The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo and illustrated by Yoko Tanaka

What if? Why not? Could it be? When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer (an elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it’s true.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Physical injury
  • Death of a mother in childbirth recounted
  • Death of a father during military service recounted
  • Explosion mentioned
  • Animal illness & injury
  • Animal attack
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The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden. In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive. Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Queermisia
  • Transmisia
  • Outing
  • Slut shaming
  • Fatmisia & body shaming
  • Statutory rape mentioned
  • Sexual assault, on-page
  • Sexual harassment
  • Forced sex work mentioned
  • Forced adult-minor marriage
  • Hallucinations & delusions
  • Suicide by drowning, on-page
  • Childbirth & death from childbirth
  • Pregnancy & teenage pregnancy
  • Infertility mentioned
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Dead bodies
  • Scalping & skinning, off-page
  • Mutilation & dismemberment mentioned
  • Cannibalism mentioned
  • Starvation
  • Nonconsensual branding
  • Scars
  • Death of a wife
  • Knife & axe violence
  • Whipping recounted
  • Lynching, on-page
  • Animal attack
  • Animal death, on-page
  • Animal cruelty mentioned
  • Bullying
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The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale

The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale

Marlin is not slow, or mute; what he is is a stutterer, and that makes it impossible for him to convince people otherwise. What he is also is a Rackham: the younger son of the world-famous explorer Ronan Rackham, the owner and proprietor of the Zoo at the Edge of the World, a resort where the well-to-do from all over the globe can come to experience the last bit of the wild left at the end of the nineteenth century.. In order to impress a powerful duke who comes to visit the zoo, Marlin’s father ventures into the jungle and brings back a mysterious black jaguar, the only one… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Animal attack mentioned
  • Animal death, on-page
  • Animal injury & illness
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The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Carolyn’s not so different from the other human beings around her. She’s sure of it. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. She even remembers what clothes are for. After all, she was a normal American herself, once. That was a long time ago, of course—before the time she calls “adoption day,” when she and a dozen other children found themselves being raised by a man they learned to call Father. That was a long time ago, of course—before the time she calls “adoption day,” when she and a dozen other children found themselves being… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Incest
  • Claustrophobia
  • Cannibalism
  • Eye trauma
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Fire
  • Animal attack (dog)
  • Animal death & hunting
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Fragments by Dan Wells 

Fragments by Dan Wells

After discovering the cure for RM, Kira Walker sets off on a terrifying journey into the ruins of postapocalyptic America and the darkest desires of her heart in order to uncover the means—and a reason—for humanity’s survival.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Fatmisia
  • Gun violence
  • Acid rain
  • Animal attack
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Music and Malice in Hurricane Town by Alex Bell

Music and Malice in Hurricane Town by Alex Bell

Also known as Dark Charm.

Jude Lomax scrapes a living playing the trumpet on the neon streets of Baton Noir. Then she is invited to play at the funeral of the infamous cajou queen, Ivory Monette. Passing through the cemetery gates, Jude finds herself possessed by the murdered queen’s spirit. And Ivory won’t rest until she’s found the person responsible for her death. Jude Lomax scrapes a living playing the trumpet on the neon streets of Baton Noir. Then she is invited to play at the funeral of the infamous cajou queen, Ivory Monette. Passing through… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Emesis
  • Death of a sibling recounted
  • Animal death
  • Animal attack
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Onyx and Ivory by Mindee Arnett 

Onyx and Ivory by Mindee Arnett

They call her Traitor Kate. It’s a title Kate Brighton inherited from her father after he tried to assassinate the high king years ago. Now Kate lives as an outcast, clinging to the fringes of society as a member of the Relay, the imperial courier service. Only those most skilled in riding and bow hunting ride for the Relay; and only the fastest survive, for when dark falls, the nightdrakes—deadly flightless dragons—come out to hunt. Fortunately, Kate has a secret edge: she is a wilder, born with magic that allows her to influence the minds of animals. But it’s this magic that she needs to keep hidden, as being a wilder is forbidden… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Gun & sword violence
  • Animal attack
  • Animal abuse mentioned (horse)
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The Promise of a Kiss by KC Bateman

The Promise of a Kiss by K.C. Bateman

When cash-strapped adventurer Harry Tremayne accepts five thousand pounds to locate Lady Hester Morden in Egypt, he knows he’s in for a rough ride. The headstrong mapmaker has been a source of irritation—and forbidden attraction—for years.

Lady Hester doesn’t need rescuing. She’s far too busy enjoying her freedom to return to the stuffy confines of London. Besides, handsome scoundrel Harry Tremayne is the last man she wants to see; she’s still… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Gun violence
  • Animal attack (scorpion)
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How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

Hiccup Haddock Horrendous III was a truly extraordinary Viking hero. The warrior chieftain and awesome sword fighter was known as ‘the Dragon Whisperer’, on account of his power over these terrifying beasts. But it wasn’t always like that, and this is the story of his rise to fame, in his own words.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Amputation & loss of limb
  • Animal attack
  • Animal death
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The Island of Doctor Moreau by HG Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo – a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery’s master, the sinister Dr. Moreau – a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments – with truly horrific results.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & abuse
  • Medical experimentation
  • Body horror
  • Animal cruelty & torture
  • Animal death & dead bodies
  • Animal attack
  • Gun violence
  • Whipping
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