Category Archives: Kidlit

The Ivies by Alexa Donne

The Ivies by Alexa Donne

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it’s deadly.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Outing, threatened
  • Rape
  • Cheating
  • Disordered eating
  • Drugging mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Blackmail
  • Bullying

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin? But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Sexism
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Drowning

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne

Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to go somewhere—anywhere—else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that offers few prospects, having been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for two hundred years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, nineteen-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind. But the Rochester harbours secrets: Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo and the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol abuse
  • Plague
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Fire

Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir and Michel Falardeau

Camp Spirit by Axelle Lenoir & Michel Falardeau

Summer 1994: with just two months left before college, Elodie is forced by her mother to take a job as a camp counsellor. She doesn’t know the first thing about nature, or sports, of kids for that matter, and isn’t especially interested in learning… but now she’s responsible for a foul-mouthed horde of red-headed girls who just might win her over, whether she likes it or not. Just as Elodie starts getting used to her new environment, though — and close to one of the other counsellors — a dark mystery lurking around the camp begins to haunt her dreams.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Bullying
  • Animal death

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Horrid by Katrina Leno

Following her father’s death, Jane North-Robinson and her mom move from sunny California to the dreary, dilapidated old house in Maine where her mother grew up. All they want is a fresh start, but behind North Manor’s doors lurks a history that leaves them feeling more alone…and more tormented. As the cold New England autumn arrives, and Jane settles in to her new home, she finds solace in old books and memories of her dad. She steadily begins making new friends, but also faces bullying from the resident “bad seed,” struggling to tamp down her own worst… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Self-harm mentioned
  • Suicidal ideation mentioned
  • Suicide attempt & suicide, off-page
  • Hospitalisation
  • Panic attacks
  • Nightmares
  • Flashbacks & blackouts
  • Pica (central theme)
  • Blood depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father & husband from a heart attack recounted
  • Death of a sister recounted
  • Death of a child recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Vivisepulture (being buried alive), on-page & recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Home invasion & vandalism
  • Death of a pet kitten mentioned
  • Bullying

You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

Magpie Lewis started writing in her yellow notebook the day after her family self-destructed. The day her father ruined her mother’s life. The day Eryn, Magpie’s sister, skipped town and left her to fend for herself. The day of Brandon Phipp’s party. Now Magpie is called a slut in the hallways of her high school, her former best friend won’t speak to her, and she spends her lunch period with a group of misfits who’ve all been as socially exiled as she has. And so, feeling trapped and forgotten, Magpie retreats to her notebook, dreaming up a magical place called Near. Near is perfect–a place… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Bimisia
  • Transmisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Victim blaming
  • Rape & date rape
  • Child neglect
  • Cheating
  • Anxiety & anxiety attacks
  • Suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcoholism
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Drugging
  • Murder
  • Bullying

Everything All at Once by Katrina Leno

Everything All at Once by Katrina Leno

Lottie Reeves has always struggled with anxiety, and when her beloved Aunt Helen dies, Lottie begins to fear that her own unexpected death might be waiting around every corner. Aunt Helen wasn’t a typical aunt. She was the author of the best–selling Alvin Hatter series, about siblings who discover the elixir of immortality. Her writing inspired a generation of readers. In her will, she leaves one last writing project—just for Lottie. It’s a series of letters, each containing mysterious instructions designed to push Lottie out of her comfort zone. Soon, Lottie’s trying some writing of her own, leaping off cliffs, and even fall… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Queermisia
  • Child abuse
  • Anxiety & panic attacks, on-page
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Terminal cancer
  • Hospital
  • Emesis mentioned
  • Grief & loss depiction (theme)
  • Death of an aunt
  • Death from a fall
  • Drowning mentioned

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

You live and you remember. Me, I live and I forget. But now—now I am remembering. For all of her seventeen years, Molly feels like she’s missed bits and pieces of her life. Now, she’s figuring out why. Now, she’s remembering her own secrets. And in doing so, Molly uncovers the separate life she seems to have led…and the love that she can’t let go.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder (theme)
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation discussed
  • Thwarted attempted suicide by drug overdose, on-page
  • Blood depiction
  • Hospital
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a brother
  • Car accident involving a truck hitting a motorcycle, on-page
  • Death of a pet goldfish mentioned

The Lost & Found by Katrina Leno

The Lost & Found by Katrina Leno

Frannie and Louis met in an online support group when they were both younger. They have never met face-to-face. They don’t even know each other’s real names. All they know is that they both have a mysterious tendency to lose things. Well, not lose them, exactly. Things just seem to…disappear. They each receive news in the mail that sets them off on a road trip to Austin, Texas, looking for answers—and each other. Along the way, each one begins to find, as if by magic, important things the other has lost. And by the time they finally meet in person, they realize that the things you lose might be things you weren’t meant to have at all,…Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-harm
  • Schizophrenia
  • Amputation
  • Death of a parent

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so…sucky. After he’s dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up. The Patels insist that Ashish date an Indian-American girl—under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work? … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Cheating