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.

It’s All or Nothing, Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arango

No one knows hard work and dedication like Valentina Camacho. And Vale’s thing is fencing. She’s the top athlete at her fencing gym. Or she was . . . until the accident. After months away, Vale is finally cleared to fence again, but it’s much harder than before. Her body doesn’t move the way it used to, and worst of all is the new number Myrka. When she sweeps Vale aside with her perfect form and easy smile, Vale just can’t accept that. But the harder Vale fights to catch up, the more she realizes her injury isn’t the only thing holding her back. If she can’t leave her accident in the past, then what does she have to look forward to?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Physical injury
  • Bullying

Max in the Land of Lies by Adam Gidwitz

Max was on a mission. Well, two missions. One mission his British spymasters knew about: infiltrating the Funkhaus, the center of Nazi radio and propaganda. The other, they did not: finding his parents. Max Bretzfeld was willing to do anything to return to Germany, even become a British spy. Training complete and forged papers in hand, the radio wunderkind’s mission has begun—gain access to the legendary Funkhaus, the base of operations for the Ministry of Propaganda and Popular Enlightenment headed by Joseph Goebbels.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical Nazism, racial slurs & antisemitism
  • Slavery & colonialism discussed
  • Alcohol consumption & smoking mentioned
  • Murder & torture
  • Physical assault & hand-to-hand combat
  • World War Two (theme) including imprisonment & concentration camp
  • Bullying

The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew

Delaney Meyers-Petrov is tired of being seen as fragile just because she’s Deaf. So when she’s accepted into a prestigious program at Godbole University that trains students to slip between parallel worlds, she’s excited for the chance to prove herself. But her semester gets off to a rocky start as she faces professors who won’t accommodate her disability, and a pretentious upperclassman fascinated by Delaney’s unusual talents. Colton Price died when he was nine years old. Quite impossibly, he woke several weeks later at the feet of a green-eyed little girl. Now, twelve years later, Delaney Meyers-Petrov has stumbled back… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment & child neglect
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping & stalking
  • Drowning
  • Fire
  • Car accident mentioned

Missing Clarissa by Ripley Jones

In August of 1999, dazzlingly popular cheerleader Clarissa Campbell disappears from a party in the woods outside the rural town of Oreville, Washington and is never seen again. The police question her friends, teachers, and the adults who knew her—who all have something to hide. And thanks to Clarissa’s beauty, the mystery captures the attention of the nation. But with no leads and no body, the case soon grows cold. Despite the efforts of internet sleuths and true-crime aficionados, Clarissa is never found—dead or alive. Over twenty years later, Oreville high school… Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism, racism & homophobia mentioned
  • Adult-minor teacher-student relationship & statutory rape
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping

Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven

Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her 18th birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers. The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to: Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse. Try not to fall in love.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism, racism, sexism & classism
  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic abuse
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Blood & injury depiction including body horror
  • Forced institutionalization
  • Death of a child
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Overdose
  • Death of a mother
  • Teen homelessness

You’re Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner

When Julia finds a slur about her best friend scrawled across the back of the Kingston School for the Deaf, she covers it up with a beautiful (albeit illegal) graffiti mural. Her supposed best friend snitches, the principal expels her, and her two mothers set Julia up with a one-way ticket to a “mainstream” school in the suburbs, where she’s treated like an outcast as the only deaf student. The last thing she has left is her art, and not even Banksy himself could convince her to give that up. Out in the ’burbs, Julia paints anywhere she can, eager to claim some turf of her own. But Julia soon…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Racism
  • Eating disorder recovery (secondary character)
  • Bullying

You, Me, and Our Heartstrings by Melissa See

Daisy and Noah have the same plan: use the holiday concert to land a Julliard audition. But when they’re chosen to play a duet for the concert, they worry that their differences will sink their chances. Noah, a cello prodigy from a long line of musicians, wants to stick to tradition. Daisy, a fiercely independent disabled violinist, is used to fighting for what she wants and likes to take risks. But the two surprise each other when they play. They fall perfectly in tune. After their performance goes viral, the rest of the country falls for them just as surely as they’re falling for each other… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & ableist slur
  • Anxiety & panic attacks

Stop and Stare by Katia Rose

Iz Sanchez has looked for love just about everywhere. Granted, life as a non-binary jock at a small coastal university does not exactly present a wealth of opportunity, but that hasn’t stopped Iz from seizing the day. So far their quest to find Miss Right has only resulted in heartbreak and way too many awkward run-ins with exes at the campus sports bar, but at the end of the day, Iz can always count on their friends, their glorious collection of designer sneakers, and their steadfast belief that love is out there somewhere to get them back in the game. What they didn’t… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Transphobia mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption

Catch and Cradle by Katia Rose

The UNS Women’s Lacrosse team doesn’t have an official policy against inter-teammate relationships, but those words might as well be carved into stone tablets in the middle of the field. After witnessing way too much drama in the past, Captain Becca Moore is intent on keeping her players’ love lives out of the locker room. Becca has no time or tolerance for any distractions from the game. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Hope Hastings has been since the day she showed up for tryouts: one walking, talking, charismatically dorky and way-too-kissable distraction. Hope knew… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted
  • Forced outing mentioned
  • Abortion discussed & recounted