In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Cannibalism
  • Starvation & dehydration
  • Whale hunting & butchering
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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.

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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.

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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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The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff 

So began the ceremony that was to make young Phaedrus, ex-slave and gladiator, Horse Lord of the Dalriadain. Phaedrus had come a long way since the fight in the arena that gained him his freedom. He had left behind his old Roman life and identity and had entered another, more primitive, world—that of the British tribes in the far north. In this world of superstition and ancient ritual, of fierce loyalties and intertribal rivalry, Phaedrus found companionship and love, and something more—a purpose and a meaning to his life as he came fully to understand the significance of the Mark of the Horse… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Sexual assault (nonconsensual kiss)
  • Forced arranged marriage
  • Suicide, on-page
  • Unplanned pregnancy
  • Emesis
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Forced murder of a friend
  • Animal sacrifice (horse)
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The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.
Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.

Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Child sexual abuse mentioned
  • Death of a child
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping mentioned
  • Motorcycle accident
  • Fire
  • Animal death
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The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson 

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Mr. and Mrs. Fang called it art. Their children called it mischief.

Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist’s work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as long as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents’ madcap pieces. But now that… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Incest mentioned
  • Animal death mentioned
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Congo by Michael Crichton

Congo by Michael Crichton

Ten thousand miles away, Karen Ross, the Congo Project Supervisor, watches a gruesome video transmission of the aftermath: a camp destroyed, tents crushed and torn, equipment scattered in the mud alongside dead bodies — all motionless except for one moving image — a grainy, dark, man-shaped blur.

In San Francisco, primatologist Peter Elliot works with Amy, a gorilla with an extraordinary vocabulary of 620 “signs,” the most ever learned by a primate… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Colonialism
  • Blood & gore depiction including eye trauma
  • Death of a friend
  • Gun violence
  • Explosion
  • Animal death
  • Animal experimentation discussed
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Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert 

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert

Seventeen-year-old Ivy’s summer break kicks off with an accident, a punishment, and a mystery: a stranger whose appearance in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night, heralds a string of increasingly unsettling events. As the days pass, Ivy grapples with eerie offerings, corroded memories, and a secret she’s always known—that there’s more to her mother than meets the eye.

Dana has always been perceptive. And the summer she turns sixteen, with the help of her best frie… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Animal abuse & torture
  • Animal death
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Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Domestic abuse
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Animal death
  • Animal cruelty
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A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi

It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.

Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments – even the physical violence – she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears… Read more.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Islamomisia (theme)
  • Racism
  • Hate crimes
  • Terrorism
  • Child neglect
  • Physical assault
  • Strangulation recounted
  • Animal dissection for science class mentioned
  • Bullying (theme)
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