Kidlit – Page 74 – Trigger Warning Database

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P by Alex Gino

You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino

Jilly thinks she’s figured out how life works. But when her sister Emma is born Deaf, she realizes how much she still has to learn. A big fantasy reader, Jilly connects with another fan, Derek, who is a Deaf Black ASL user. She goes to Derek for advice but doesn’t always know the best way to ask for it and makes some mistakes along the way. Jilly has to step back to learn to be an ally, a sister, and a friend, understanding that life works in different ways for different people, and that being open to change can make you change in the best possible ways.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Ableism
Racism
Police brutality

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Six months after Paola Santiago confronted the legendary La Llorona, life is nothing like she’d expected it to be. She is barely speaking to her best friends, Dante and Emma, and what’s worse, her mom has a totally annoying boyfriend. Even with her chupacabra puppy, Bruto, around, Pao can’t escape the feeling that she’s all alone in the world. Pao has no one to tell that she’s having nightmares again, this time set in a terrifying forest. Even more troubling? At their centre is her estranged father, an enigma of a man she barely remembers. And when Dante’s abuela falls… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Hospitalisation
Death of a parent
Murder
Fire

Wench by Maxine Kaplan

Wench by Maxine Kaplan

Tanya has worked at her tavern since she was able to see over the bar. She broke up her first fight at 11. By the time she was a teenager she knew everything about the place, and she could run it with her eyes closed. She’d never let anyone—whether it be a drunkard or a captain of the queen’s guard—take advantage of her. But when her guardian dies, she might lose it all: the bar, her home, her purpose in life. So she heads out on a quest to petition the queen to keep the tavern in her name—dodging unscrupulous guards, a band of thieves, and a powerful, enchanted feather that… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Self-harm

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S by David Levithan

The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. by David Levithan

Aidan disappeared for six days. Six agonizing days of searches and police and questions and constant vigils. Then, just as suddenly as he vanished, Aidan reappears. Where has he been? The story he tells is simply. . . impossible. But it’s the story Aidan is sticking to. His brother, Lucas, wants to believe him. But Lucas is aware of what other people, including their parents, are saying: that Aidan is making it all up to disguise the fact that he ran away. When the kids in school hear Aidan’s story, they taunt him. But still Aidan clings… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Drowning mentioned
Disappearance of a child & sibling
Bullying & rumor-spreading

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything. Edward “Teach” Drummond, son of one of Bristol’s richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There’s just one problem: convincing his… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slut-shaming
Kidnapping

Boys Run the Riot, Volume One by Keito Gaku

Boys Run the Riot, Vol. 1 by Keito Gaku

High schooler Ryo knows he’s transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. He can’t tell his best friend, who he’s secretly got a crush on, and he can’t tell his mom, who’s constantly asking why Ryo “dresses like a boy.” He certainly can’t tell Jin, the new transfer student who looks like just another bully… The only time Ryo feels at ease is when he’s wearing his favourite clothes. Then, and only then, the world melts away, and he can be his true self. One day, while out shopping, Ryo sees someone he didn’t expect: Jin. The kid… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisia
Transmisia
Misgendering
Gender dysphoria
Misogyny
Drug use
Blood depiction
Bullying

The Lost Property Office by James Hannibal

The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal

Thirteen-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things. Not just a missing glove or the other sock, but things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace. But Jack s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries and membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack s inheri… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Loss of limb
Kidnapping
Blackmail
Electrocution
Great Fire of 1666 described

North of Happy by Adi Alsaid

North of Happy by Adi Alsaid

Carlos Portillo has always led a privileged and sheltered life. A dual citizen of Mexico and the US, he lives in Mexico City with his wealthy family, where he attends an elite international school. Always a rule follower and a parent pleaser, Carlos is more than happy to tread the well-worn path in front of him. He has always loved food and cooking, but his parents see it as just a hobby. When his older brother, Felix—who has dropped out of college to live a life of travel—is tragically killed, Carlos begins hearing his brother’s voice, giving him advice and pushing him to rebel against his fath… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a brother

Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak by Adi Alsaid

The summer after senior year is not going as eighteen-year-old Lu Charles expected: after her longtime boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her, Lu can’t write a single word, despite the fact that her college scholarship is tied to her columnist job at hip online magazine Misnomer. Then, she meets Cal. Cal’s ever-practical girlfriend Iris is looking ahead to her first year of college, and her plans do not include a long-distance boyfriend. When Lu learns that Cal and Iris have planned to end their relationship at the end of the summer, she becomes fascinated and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption
Physical injury

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid

Before Takeoff by Adi Alsaid

James and Michelle find themselves in the Atlanta airport on a layover. They couldn’t be more different, but seemingly interminable delays draw them both to a mysterious flashing green light–and each other. Where James is passive, Michelle is anything but. And she quickly discovers that the flashing green light is actually… a button. Which she presses. Which may or may not unwittingly break the rules of the universe–at least as those rules apply to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta. Before they can figure up from down, strange, impossible things start happening… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Panic attack, on-page
Cancer