Tag Archives: Ableism

This page lists books that contain trigger and content warnings for the depiction of ableism, including the use of ableist language and slurs.

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He’s won skiing prizes. He likes to write. And, oh yeah, he’s gay. He’s been out since 8th grade, and he isn’t teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that’s important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time. So when he transfers to an all-boys’ boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret — not so much going back in the closet as start … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia & internalised homomisia
  • Ableism
  • Outing
  • Depression mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Death of a relative from cancer
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Yes and I Love You by Roni Loren

Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren

Everyone knows Miz Poppy, the vibrant reviewer whose commentary brightens the New Orleans nightlife. But no one knows Hollyn, the real face behind the media star… or the fear that keeps her isolated. When her boss tells her she needs to add video to her blog or lose her job, she’s forced to rely on an unexpected source to help her face her fears. When aspiring actor Jasper Deares finds out the shy woman who orders coffee every day is actually Miz Poppy, he realizes he has a golden opportunity to get the media attention his acting career needs. All he has to do is… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation recounted
  • Bullying recounted

Cross Fire by Fonda Lee

Cross Fire by Fonda Lee

Earth’s century of peace as a colony of an alien race has been shattered. As the alien-run government navigates peace talks with the human terrorist group Sapience, Donovan tries to put his life back together and return to his duty as a member of the security forces. But a new order comes from the alien home planet: withdraw. Earth has proven too costly and unstable to maintain as a colony, so the aliens, along with a small selection of humans, begin to make plans to leave. As word of the withdrawal spreads through the galaxy, suddenly Earth becomes vulnerable to a takeover from other aliens races. Aliens who do not seek to live in…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Medical procedures
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Terrorism

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

In 1982, Evelyn’s daughter, Jackie, is a frazzled single mother grappling with her absent husband’s drug addiction. Just as she comes to terms with his abandoning the family, he returns, ready to resume their old life. Jackie must decide if the promise of her husband is worth the near certainty he’ll leave again. Jackie’s son, T.C., loves the creative process of growing marijuana more than the weed itself. He finds something hypnotic about training the seedlings, testing the levels, trimming the leaves, and drying the buds. He was a square before Hurricane Katrina, but the New Orleans he knew didn’t survive the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Domestic violence
  • Substance addiction
  • War themes

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods? It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Physical child abuse, off-page
  • Amnesia
  • Suicide
  • Eye trauma
  • Starvation discussed
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a sister
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence
  • Disappearance of a sibling (theme)
  • Drowning, on-page
  • Animal attack

A Darkness At The Door by Intisar Khanani

A Darkness At The Door by Intisar Khanani

Only Rae knows the extent of the corruption at the heart of the kingdom of Menaiya, from the noble lord who betrayed her to the Circle of Mages whose wards protect the slavers from discovery. Injured and imprisoned on a slave ship, Rae’s options are quickly running out. When a desperate escape attempt goes terribly wrong, she finds herself indebted to a terrifying Fae sorceress. Now Rae will not rest until she has rescued her fellow prisoners and freed her land from the darkness that has taken hold. To succeed, she’ll need every ally she can find—including Bren, the thief who may have stolen her heart. But Bren… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Human trafficking, off-page
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Attempted murder

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani

Children have been disappearing from across Menaiya for longer than Amraeya ni Ansarim can remember. When her friend’s sister is snatched, Rae knows she can’t look away any longer – even if that means seeking answers from the royal court, where her country upbringing and clubfoot will only invite ridicule. Yet the court holds its share of surprises. There she discovers an ally in the foreign princess, who recruits her as an attendant. Armed with the princess’s support, Rae seeks answers in the dark city streets, finding unexpected help in a rough-around-the-edges street thief with secrets of his own. But treachery… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Ableism
  • Human trafficking, off-page
  • Sexual assault
  • Physical & emotional child abuse
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Sixteen-year-old Solomon is agoraphobic. He hasn’t left the house in three years, which is fine by him. Ambitious Lisa desperately wants to get into the second-best psychology program for college (she’s being realistic). But is ambition alone enough to get her in? Enter Lisa. Determined to “fix” Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend, Clark, and soon the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer, the walls they’ve built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Coming out themes
  • Agoraphobia
  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
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Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert

After an assault, bigender seventeen-year-old Aleks/Alexis is looking for a fresh start―so they voluntarily move in with their uncle, a Catholic priest. In their new bedroom, Aleks/Alexis discovers they can overhear parishioners in the church confessional. Moved by the struggles of these “sinners,” Aleks/Alexis decides to anonymously help them, finding solace in their secret identity: a guardian angel instead of a victim. But then Aleks/Alexis overhears a confession of another priest admitting to sexually abusing a parishioner. As they try to uncover the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Ableism
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Homomsia & homomisic slurs
  • Transmisia & internalised transmisia
  • Misgendering
  • Paedophilia & child sexual abuse
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse mentioned
  • Disordered eating & body image
  • Body dysmorphia
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Physical injury
  • Hospital
  • Murder
  • Fire
  • Stalking and invasion of privacy
  • Bullying
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Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace. But when they meet the neighbours next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Murder
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