Category Archives: Kidlit

Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis

Extraordinary Birds by Sandy Stark-McGinnis

Eleven-year-old December knows everything about birds, and everything about getting kicked out of foster homes. All she has of her biological mum is the book she left behind, The Complete Guide to Birds, Volume One, and a photo with a message: ‘In flight is where you’ll find me.’ December knows she’s truly a bird, just waiting for the day she transforms and flies away to reunite with her mum. The scar on her back must be where her wings have started to blossom – she just needs to practise and to find the right tree. She has no choice; it’s the only story that makes sense…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Scars
  • Bullying

Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin

Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin

When Trixie picks up her best friend Lux for their weekend getaway, they’re looking to forget the despair of being trapped in their dead-end rustbelt town. The girls are packing light: a supply of Diet Coke and an ‘89 Canon to help Lux frame the world in a sunnier light; half a pack of cigarettes that Trixie doesn’t really smoke, and a knife she’s hanging on to for a friend that she’s never used before. But a single night of violence derails their trip, and the girls go from ordinary high schoolers to wanted fugitives. Trying to stay ahead of the cops and a hellscape of media atten… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Homomisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Victim blaming
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse recounted
  • Domestic abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Smoking
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Murder
  • Knife violence
  • Gun violence

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner. For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside. Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Racism
  • Rape mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Medical experimentation
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Torture
  • Poisoning
  • Whipping
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death
  • War & rebellion

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian

Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come–for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future. On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends–countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic. When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot, and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & neglect
  • Infidelity mentioned
  • Suicide by drowning, on-page
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Decapitation
  • Blood depiction
  • Sword violence

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Isabelle should be blissfully happy – she’s about to win the handsome prince. Except Isabelle isn’t the beautiful girl who lost the glass slipper and captured the prince’s heart. She’s the ugly stepsister who’s cut off her toes to fit into Cinderella’s shoe … which is now filling with blood. When the prince discovers Isabelle’s deception, she is turned away in shame. It’s no more than she deserves: she is a plain girl in a world that values beauty; a feisty girl in a world that wants her to be pliant. Isabelle has tried to fit in. To live up to her mother’s expectations. To be like her… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-mutilation, on-page

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. Two girls, two centuries apart… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Attempted suicide
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Once upon a time, a girl named Sophie rode into the forest with the queen’s huntsman. Her lips were the colour of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as midnight. When they stopped to rest, the huntsman pulled out his knife and took Sophie’s heart. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Sophie had heard the rumours, the whispers. They said she was too kind and foolish to rule — a waste of a princess. A disaster of a future queen. And Sophie believed them. She believed everything she’d heard about herself, the poisonous words people… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child abuse
  • Self-harm
  • Suicide

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace’s drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly’s debut novel weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving and real.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother
  • Murder by drowning

All the Acorns on the Forest Floor by Kim Hooper

All the Acorns on the Forest Floor by Kim Hooper

A couple brimming with the hope of a new pregnancy. A woman coming to terms with the truth behind her adoption. A husband trying to save his marriage from the despair of infertility. These are just a few of the stories in All the Acorns on the Forest Floor, a book about the lengths we go to for the love of our children, our spouses, our mothers, our daughters. All the Acorns on the Forest Floor is a book of connections between people, connections lost and found, across time and space. There are stories of women who never became mothers (by choice or by fate), women who became mothers in unexpected or nontraditional…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Miscarriage
  • Terminal illness

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos

Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation. But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs. With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Child abuse
  • Cults