BIPOC Lit – Page 24 – Trigger Warning Database

Heroes by Alan Gratz

December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. Their dads are Navy pilots stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the boys get a front-row view of the huge battleships and the sparkling water. Yes, World War II is raging in Europe and in Asia, but the US isn’t involved in the war, and the boys are free to dream about becoming comic book creators. They’ve even invented a superhero of their own, in the style of Batman, Superman, Captain America, and other stars of the Golden Age of Comics. Maybe they’ll even get their comic published someday. December 7th, 1941: Everything explodes. That morning, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racial slurs (anti-Japanese)
Alcohol consumption mentioned (secondary characters)
Mass hospitalisation for injuries and mentions of dead bodies
Naval warfare including ship explosions, shipwrecks, and death from drowning or burning in flaming oil-spills
Gun violence
Plane crashes & death from explosions upon their impact
Attack of Pearl Harbor (theme)
Animal attack (dog)

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a “pleasure to have in class.” It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She’d never send them of course — she’d rather die than hurt anyone’s feelings — but it’s a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie’s work. All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and comp… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment
Alcohol consumption
Cyberbullying

Figure of Speech by Audra North

Clover Bennett’s motto is Good Things Happen to Those Who Hustle. After a string of toxic relationships, Clover decides to focus her energy on the one thing she can control, her career. When she lands a high-profile job as press secretary at the White House, Clover sees her years of hard work paying off. The goal is to establish herself as a DC power player, with no room for distractions. Well, maybe just one … the handsome bachelor occupying the White House. President Theodore Elmsworth is charismatic, brilliant, and witty. Clover finds herself reluctantly drawn in by the intoxicating proximity to power his… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental abandonment

Second Chance by Audra North

Wilford town librarian Marnie Thomas has had too much loss to risk her heart ever again. She buries her hurt in books and finds her friends in stories, even though she longs for love and a family of her own. Real estate developer Collin Morgan is back in town on Halloween to help his sister, but the last person he expected to see at his niece’s story hour is Marnie Thomas. The shy, awkward girl he remembered from high school has turned into a beautiful—but still shy—woman, and Collin can’t help the desire that rises up when he sees her.
But this year, the magic of Halloween conjures a wisecracking, cigar-smoking ghost name… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parental & spousal abandonment
Verbal child abuse
Smoking
Death from a heart attack mentioned
Death of a mother from cancer recounted

Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher

Jack Nolan is a gentleman, a journalist, and unlucky in love. His viral success has pigeon-holed him as the how-to guy for a buzzy, internet media company instead of covering hard-hitting politics. Fed up with his fluffy articles and the app-based dating scene as well, he strikes a deal with his boss to write a final piece de resistance: How to Lose a Girl. Easier said than done when the girl he meets is Hannah Mayfield, and he’s not sure he wants her to dump him. Hannah is an extremely successful event planner who’s focused on climbing the career ladder. Her firm is one of the most prestigious in the city, and she’s determiend to secure,,, Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment
Emotionally abusive relationship
Divorce mentioned
Alcohol consumption

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper and illustrated by Sarah Jane Coleman

Stella lives in the segregated South; in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact about it. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. To Stella, it sort of evens out, and heck, the Klan hasn’t bothered them for years. But one late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. As Stella’s community – her world – is upended, she decides to fight fire with fire. And she learns that ashes don’t necessarily signify an end.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism
White supremacy & Klu Klux Klan
Hate crimes
Physical child abuse
Domestic abuse & violence
Death of a father in a lumber mill accident mentioned
House fire & arson

A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel

Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong. Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Rape discussed
Blood, gore & body horror including mutilation in which women have their mouths sewn shut and tongues cut out

All This Twisted Glory by Tahereh Mafi

As the long-lost heir to the Jinn throne, Alizeh has finally found her people—and she might’ve found her crown. Cyrus, the mercurial ruler of Tulan, has offered her his kingdom in a twisted exchange: one that would begin with their marriage and end with his murder. Cyrus’s dark reputation precedes him; all the world knows of his blood-soaked past. Killing him should be easy—and accepting his offer might be the only way to fulfill her destiny and save her people. But the more Alizeh learns of him, the more she questions whether the terrible stories about him are true… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Self-harm & self-sacrifice
Blood & injury depiction including loss of an eye
Torture
Knife & sword violence

Valley Verified by Kyla Zhao

On paper, Zoe Zeng has made it in New York’s fashion world. After a string of unpaid internships, she’s now a fashion columnist at Chic, lives in a quaint apartment in Manhattan, and gets invited to exclusive industry events. But life in New York City isn’t as chic as Zoe imagined. Her editor wants her to censor her opinions to please the big brands; she shares her “quaint” ( small) apartment with two roommates who never let her store kimchi in the fridge; and how is she supposed to afford the designer clothes expected for those parties on her meager salary? Then one… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Misogyny
Fatphobia & body-shaming
Sexual harassment

Sweet Vengeance by Viano Oniomoh

Joy needs a deal with a demon to bring an end to the man who’d ruined her life. Malachi needs a deal with a human so he can remain in the mortal realm, far from the sentries looking to drag him back to his sect in hell. It’s a match seemingly made in heaven. Except, Malachi doesn’t expect Joy’s thirst for vengeance to taste so sweet, and Joy doesn’t expect a freaking demon to revive everything in her she’d thought long-dead. After the deal is struck, and their contract had some to an end, they both realise that one contract will not nearly be enough.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Victim-blaming recounted
Rape & incestuous childhood sexual abuse recounted
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Nightmares & panic attacks
Self-harm
Murder
Stalking