Tag Archives: Animal Death & Death of a Pet

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of animal death, including the death of a pet or animal companion.

See also Hunting, Animal abuse & cruelty, and Animal illness & injury.

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

It’s been an enjoyable and murder-free time for Judith, Suzie and Becks – AKA the Marlow Murder Club – since the events of last year. The most exciting thing on the horizon is the upcoming wedding of Marlow grandee, Sir Peter Bailey, to his nurse, Jenny Page. Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding, and Judith and Co. are looking forward to a bit of free champagne. But during the soiree, there’s a crash from inside the house, and when the Marlow Murder Club rush to investigate, they are shocked to find the groom-to-be… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Cheating
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Gun violence mentioned
  • Poisoning
  • Animal death

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

Mattie can’t remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they’re not alone after all. There’s something in the woods that wasn’t there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws. When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Graphic domestic violence including physical beatings, deprivation of food, water and shelter, and denial of autonomy (theme)
  • Martial rape, off-page
  • Miscarriage & stillbirth recounted
  • Chronic arm injury
  • Emesis, on-page
  • Blood & gore depiction including the hanging of dead bodies
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Strangulation, on-page
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Animal death and dead bodies (fox, bear)

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it. He’s eight years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets – not even lemon sherbets, which are my favorite! But the truth is, Ahmet really isn’t very strange at all. He’s a refugee who’s run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend. That’s where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we’ve come up with a plan.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a sister mentioned
  • Death of a parent in a car accident mentioned
  • Bombing raid mentioned
  • Physical assault
  • Exile mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Death of a pet cat mentioned

The Poison Waves by Sayantani DasGupta

Kiya and Kinjal have succeeded in their first quest in the magical world of the Kingdom Beyond, but it quickly becomes obvious that whatever good they achieved might not be enough. Their faithful flying horses Snowy and Raat reappear and whisk them back to the Kingdom at the behest of the magical Princess Pakkhiraj. There, she tells them the water pari–winged merpeople–are slowly being poisoned and it is up to the twins to figure it out and put a stop to it. Fortunately Kiya has the know how to solve this mystery…if only she can put the pieces together before the evil serpent king Sesha knows they’ve reentered the Kingdom!

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Arrow violence
  • Fire
  • Earthquakes & mud slides
  • Animal illness & death (horse, fish)

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

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

Rory Morris isn’t thrilled to be moving back to her hometown, even if it is temporary. There are bad memories there. But her twin sister, Scarlett, is pregnant, estranged from the baby’s father, and needs support, so Rory returns to the place she thought she’d put in her rearview. After a night out at a bar where she runs into an old almost-flame, she hits a large animal with her car. And when she gets out to investigate, she’s attacked. Rory survives, miraculously, but life begins to look and feel different. She’s unnaturally strong, with an aversion to silver–and suddenly the moon has her in its thrall. She’s changing into someone else… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Physical child abuse & neglect recounted
  • Infidelity recounted
  • Smoking
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy & childbirth mentioned (secondary character)
  • Emesis
  • Hospitalisation
  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Animal death & attack

A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Self-injury for magic
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging (protagonist)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder by stabbing & knife violence
  • Torture mentioned
  • Protagonist is kidnapped, bound, pushed into a well, magically stripped of her memories, and nearly killed with a knife
  • Animal death (fox by arrow)

Pax, Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen

It’s been a year since Peter and his pet fox, Pax, have seen each other. Once inseparable, they now lead very different lives. Pax and his mate, Bristle, have welcomed a litter of kits they must protect in a dangerous world. Meanwhile Peter—newly orphaned after the war, wracked with guilt and loneliness—leaves his adopted home with Vola to join the Water Warriors, a group of people determined to heal the land from the scars of the war… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Emesis
  • Death of a parent
  • Fire
  • Car accident
  • Animal death

Pax by Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen

Pax was only a kit when his family was killed, and “his boy” Peter rescued him from abandonment and certain death. Now the war front approaches, and when Peter’s father enlists, Peter has to move in with his grandpa. Far worse than being forced to leave home is the fact that Pax can’t go. Peter listens to his stern father—as he usually does—and throws Pax’s favorite toy soldier into the woods. When the fox runs to retrieve it, Peter and his dad get back in the car and leave him there—alone. But before Peter makes it through even one night under his grandfather’s roof… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother
  • Animal attack
  • Animal injury
  • Animal death

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee

Meet Anna K. At seventeen, she is at the top of Manhattan and Greenwich society (even if she prefers the company of her horses and Newfoundland dogs); she has the perfect (if perfectly boring) boyfriend, Alexander W.; and she has always made her Korean-American father proud (even if he can be a little controlling). Meanwhile, Anna’s brother, Steven, and his girlfriend, Lolly, are trying to weather a sexting scandal; Lolly’s little sister, Kimmie, is struggling to recalibrate to normal life after an injury derails her ice dancing career; and Steven’s best friend, Dustin, is madly (and one-sidedly) in love with Kimmie… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Fatmisia
  • Homomisia
  • Slut shaming
  • Cheating
  • Revenge porn
  • Depression
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Self harm mentioned
  • Dieting & weight discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Overdose
  • Miscarriage & abortion mentioned
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Fatal train accident
  • Car accident
  • Animal death (horse & dog)