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.

Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill

It’s 1853 London. Ex-medical student Victor Frankenstein has been missing for years now. Frankenstein’s great niece Mary Saville and her husband, Henry, are trying to follow in his scientific footsteps and become renowned paleontologists. They have the brains and the ambition; the only thing they lack is the reputation. Mary is a woman with a sharp mind but a fierce tongue and Henry is an unemployed gambling addict: none of this earning appeal with their peers… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Classism
  • Misogyny
  • Ableism
  • Sexual assault
  • Chronic illness
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Death of an infant mentioned
  • Animal death & experimentation

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

Alejandra no longer knows who she is. To her husband, she is a wife, and to her children, a mother. To her own adoptive mother, she is a daughter. But they cannot see who Alejandra has become: a woman struggling with a darkness that threatens to consume her.

Nor can they see what Alejandra sees. In times of despair, a ghostly vision appears to her, the apparition of a crying woman in a ragged white gown.

When Alejandra visits a therapist, she begins exploring her family’s history, starting with the biological mother she never knew… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Ableism
  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Parental abandonment
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Miscarriage
  • Blood, injury & gore depiction

Funny Feelings by Tarah Dewitt

Farley Jones is a loud, chaotic, and hilariously clever standup comedian on the way to stardom. The only thing she loves more than the rush of telling jokes in front of a revved-up audience is her hot older manager Meyer, though he doesn’t have a clue. Keeping her feelings hidden from him is agony (a tragedy, even―in lieu of flowers, please send cash…) but Meyer has been Farley’s closest and most treasured friend, not to mention vital to the trajectory of her career. She can’t risk ruining their relationship by telling him how she truly feels. After all, who else would have the patience to put up with a hot mess like her? A form… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a secondary character from childbirth complications recounted
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Physical assault
  • Ableist bullying mentioned

Of Wicked Blood by Olivia Wildenstein and Katie Hayoz

I didn’t mean to steal the Bloodstone from the De Morel’s crypt.
Scratch that, I did mean to steal it.
Until I realized it was a curse-magnet that only comes off if I, along with a jolly trio, successfully defeat four curses.
If any of us fail, I’m dead.
I’ve never been a glass half-empty sort of person, but my glass looks in dire need of a refill right about now.
The only highlight of this wicked treasure hunt: feisty, entitled Cadence de Morel… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Grave robbing & desecration

Ace by Angela Chen

What exactly is sexual attraction and what is it like to go through the world not experiencing it? What does asexuality reveal about consent, about compromise, about the structures of society? This exceedingly accessible guide to asexuality shows that the issues that aces face—confusion around sexual activity, the intersection of sexuality and identity, navigating different needs in relationships—are conflicts that all of us need to address as we move through the world. Through interviews, cultural criticism and memoir, ACE invites all readers to… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism mentioned
  • Amisia
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape discussed
  • Forced sterilization mentioned
  • Domestic terrorism mentioned

Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig

Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.

Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism & internalised ableism
  • Workplace discrimination
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy & fertility discussed
  • Parent with chronic kidney disease
  • Paralysis
  • Childhood cancer

Kiss and Repeat by Heather Truett

Stephen Luckie isn’t so lucky in love. He’s completely inexperienced when it comes to girls, and wonders if his tics – caused by Tourette’s Syndrome – are the reason.

Then a game at a party reveals that his body goes still while kissing. Using the scientific method drilled into him by his scientist father, Steven begins the best experiment ever–one that involves kissing as many girls as possible. Who knew science could be so fun?.. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Bullying

The Marvels by Brian Selznick

The journey begins at sea in 1766, with a boy named Billy Marvel. After surviving a shipwreck, he finds work in a London theatre. There, his family flourishes for generations as brilliant actors until 1900, when young Leontes Marvel is banished from the stage.

Nearly a century later, runaway Joseph Jervis seeks refuge with an uncle in London. Albert Nightingale’s strange, beautiful house, with its mysterious portraits and ghostly presences, captivates Joseph and leads him on a search for clues about the house, his family, and the past… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Child abuse
  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • HIV & AIDs
  • Terminal illness
  • Attempted murder
  • Drowning
  • Fire (theme)
  • Car accident
  • Shipwreck
  • Poverty
  • Animal death
  • Bullying

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

When Liza Winthrop first lays eyes on Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she knows there’s something special between them. Soon, their close friendship develops into a deep and intimate romance. Neither imagined that falling in love could be so wonderful, but as Liza and Annie’s newfound sexuality sparks conflict in both their families and at their schools, they discover it will take more than love for their relationship to succeed… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Lesbomisia
  • Ableism & ableist language

King’s Ex by E. J. Russell

To escape an arranged marriage, the king needs a fake fiancé. Stat.

King Bastien’s father locked him into an ironclad betrothal contract with Lady Helena Rey when the two of them were only seven years old. Bas and Helena have never been friends—and not only because she marked their first meeting by dropping a frog down his shirt. He’s been unsuccessfully petitioning Parliament to annul the damn contract ever since he took the throne nine years ago….. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping recounted
  • War mentioned