Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith

Eleven-year-old Ava Adams is looking for something different. The tall Manhattan buildings around her feel like walls closing in. And what if she doesn’t fit in with her city-loving friends or busybody family who think Black folks “don’t do nature?” But in a twist of fate, Ava is shocked to learn that her parents are actually allowing her to stay with her Aunt Raven in the Adirondacks for the summer. In her Auntie’s simple cabin, living off the land with nature’s beauty filling her senses, the woods feel more like home than Manhattan. As Summer comes to a close and Aunt… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical injuries & illness, including fever from an infected tick bite
  • Animal death & hunting with a bow & arrow mentioned (coyote, rabbit, dogs, on- & off-page)
  • Snowstorm & lightning strike, resulting in property damage

Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Harper’s life just exploded. Her parents are getting a divorce. And she suspects her best friend, Cat, may have known the reason for it long before she did. Now Harper and her mom are starting over in a cramped house, in a new town, where everything feels unfamiliar, including the riding barn next door. There, Harper watches the kids she avoids at her new school take lessons. Harper’s never been around horses before. And no, she does not want to learn to ride. Then with no warning, a truck dumps a starved and neglected horse right in Harper’s yard. She has no idea… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental divorce discussed (theme)
  • Bullying
  • Animal death (chickens)

The Fallen by Charlie Higson

First the sickness rotted the adults’ minds. Then their bodies. Now they stalk the streets, hunting human flesh. The Holloway crew are survivors. They’ve fought their way across London and made it to the Natural History Museum alive – just. But the fight will never end while the Enemy lives, unless there’s another way…The kids at the museum are looking for a cure. All they need are medical supplies. To get them means a journey down unknown roads. Roads where not only crazed, hungry sickos hide in the shadows. Suddenly it’s not so clear who – or what – they’re fighting.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction including body horror and cannibalism
  • Death of a child
  • Animal death

The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon

Two weeks after the door to Faery closed once more, Asalin is still in turmoil. Emyr and Wyatt are hunting Derek and Clarke themselves after having abolished the corrupt Guard, and are trying to convince the other kingdoms to follow their lead. But when they uncover the hidden truth about the witches’ real place in fae society, it becomes clear the problems run much deeper than anyone knew. And this may be more than the two of them can fix. As Wyatt struggles to learn control of his magic and balance his own needs with the needs of a kingdom, he must finally decide on the… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Transphobia & dysphoria
  • Rape by coercion (off-page)
  • Parental abandonment
  • Panic attacks (on-page)
  • Dissociation
  • Blood & gore depiction and cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Graphic infanticide
  • Car accident
  • Fire
  • Animal death

Savage Hearts by J.T. Geissinger

He’s a myth. A ghost. A legend. A Bratva assassin so feared, some won’t even dare to speak his name. He comes in search of vengeance for the death of his brother, but what he finds instead is me. A girl he thinks is someone else. Someone unrelated to the man who killed his brother. Except I am. And when he finds out my true identity, he decides to take me as repayment for what he lost. Now, I’m a little bird trapped in a cage, and the only way to survive is to make friends with the monster who captured me. Except friendship isn’t what the monster has in mind.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent from cancer mentioned
  • Animal death (bear)

Saltwater Taffy by Eric Delabarre

The adventure story follows the lives of five ‘tweenage’ friends as they uncover a treasure map that once belonged to the ruthless New Orleans pirate, Jean Lafitte. The discovery thrusts them from one treasure-hunting adventure to the next as they try to out-wit, out-think and out-maneuver everyone from the one-legged junk-yard man and an overbearing town bully, to the creepy old man living at the top of the hill. Saltwater Taffy is a coming-of-age adventure that grabs the reader and never lets go.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Explosion
  • Vivisepulture (buried alive in a cave)
  • Animal death & poaching

Salt by Helen Frost

Anikwa and James, twelve years old in 1812, spend their days fishing, trapping, and exploring together in the forests of the Indiana Territory. To Anikwa and his family, members of the Miami tribe, this land has been home for centuries. As traders, James’s family has ties to the Miami community as well as to the American soldiers in the fort. Now tensions are rising—the British and American armies prepare to meet at Fort Wayne for a crucial battle, and Native Americans from surrounding tribes gather in Kekionga to protect… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Starvation
  • Fire
  • Siege of Fort Wayne & 1812 War
  • Animal death

Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo

For Jaime, returning to the tiny Vermont town of Saint Juniper means returning to a past he’s spent eight years trying to forget. After shuttling between foster homes, he hopes he can make something out of this fresh start. But every gossip in town already knows his business, and with reminders of his past everywhere, he seeks out solitude into the nearby woods, called Saint Juniper’s Folly, and does not return. For Theo, Saint Juniper means being stuck. He knows there’s more out there, but he’s scared to go find it. His senior year is going to be like all the rest, dull and claus… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Foster care system experiences
  • Hospitalisation
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • House fire
  • Animal death

The Sacrifice by Rin Chupeco

Pristine beaches, lush greenery, and perfect weather, the island of Kisapmata would be the vacation destination…if not for the curse. The Philippine locals speak of it in hushed voices and refuse to step foot on the island. They know the lives it has claimed. They won’t be next. A Hollywood film crew won’t be dissuaded. Legend claims a Dreamer god sleeps, waiting to grant unimaginable powers in exchange for eight sacrifices. The producers are determined to document the evidence. And they convince Alon, a local teen, to be their guide. Within minutes of… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Alcoholism & alcohol abuse
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Plane crash mentioned
  • Colonialization & gentrification
  • Animal death mentioned (dog)
  • Animal hunting mentioned

Soul Searching by Lyla Sage

Collins Cartwright does not want to go home. Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming, was supposed to be in her rearview mirror, but when she finds out a developer is trying to buy her parents’ antiques shop out from under them, she doesn’t have a choice—at least, that’s what she tells her family. They don’t need to know she’s lost her job and is out of money. Or that the ghosts who have always been her companions have recently gone silent. But just because she’s returned home doesn’t mean she has to stay with her parents or crash on her twin sister’s couch. Lucky for her, the new…. Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Drug use
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Car accident recounted
  • Animal death recounted (off-page)