Bullying & Hazing – Trigger Warning Database

Some of Us Are Brave by Saadia Faruqi

It’s a humid summer in Houston, Texas, and Yasir is dreaming of being soccer team captain—if only he could get the team bully, Cody, off his back, and maybe impress his sort-of-crush, Mona. Meanwhile, Mona is turning her nightmares into art, and Cody’s home life feels as tense as the storm literally brewing down the coast. When Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, the three kids could hardly be called friends. But as their regular lives fall apart and rising floodwaters pull them together, Mona, Cody, and Yasir will need to work as a team if they want to survive. The… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Classism & racism
Parental abandonment, child abuse & domestic violence
Night terrors
Parent with anger management issues after being injured during military service
Death of a father recounted
Death of a grandmother mentioned
Hurricane Harvey & floods (theme)
Near-drowning incident recounted
Bullying

The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be. He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers. Soon Lucas begins to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Discussions of Lebensborn hospitals (where unmarried pregnant women were forced to adopt out their children as part of a Nazi-German eugenics program)
Death of parents recounted
World War II (theme)
Bullying
Animal cruelty & death mentioned (bullies attempt to drowning a litter of kittens but the protagonist is able to save the majority of them)

The First (Love For) Noel by Raen Tetra

It’s been ten years since Noel Tannenbaum set foot in her hometown. Ten years since she drove down the quaint Main Street, ten years since she saw the Christmas tree on the town green, and ten years since she thought about her high school crush, Felix Alabaster. In those ten years she’s made a name for herself as the founder of Pop!Love, one of the most popular dating apps on the market. She’s the master of creating the perfect algorithm to find love, but has never found it for herself. A slip on the ice on her first day back in town brings her face-to…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Minor bullying recounted

Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Light Yagami is an ace student with great prospects – and he’s bored out of his mind. But all that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami, a death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to track down the killer. With L hot on his heels, will Light lose sight of his noble goal… or his life?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment
Heart attack
Murder (on- & off-page)
Gun violence
Car accident (on-page)
Hostage situation (on-page)
Imprisonment mentioned
Bullying

Death Note, Vol. 7: Zero by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

After a high-speed chase, Light and the task force apprehend the newest Kira. Light regains his Death Note and his memories, and the depths of his cunning are revealed as the plans he carefully put in place before going into confinement are slowly unveiled. His masterful manipulation of both humans and Shinigami lead him to the strongest position he’s yet enjoyed. But the glow of his victory is marred when a new threat appears. Can Light withstand a surprise attack on two fronts?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Sexual harassment
Heart attack
Murder (on- & off-page)
Gun violence
Car accident (on-page)
Hostage situation (on-page)
Imprisonment mentioned
Bullying

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly

When twelve-year-old Michael Rosario meets a mysterious boy from the future, his life is changed forever. It’s August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his fifteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby. It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and cold, things… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Hospitalisation for illness
Financial difficulties
Bullying

I Will Find You by Daphne Benedis-Grab

Nicky has disappeared! Olivia, Leo, and Gracie–three seventh graders who have very little in common except for how much they dislike Nicky, the school bully–were the last ones to see him. They are sure that there are clues the police are overlooking. And they each have their own secret reason for needing to find him as soon as possible. As they investigate, they discover that things are more complicated than they had seemed. Nicky’s victims made a plan to get revenge on him–a plan that’s gone terribly wrong. Can they find out where Nicky is before it’s too late?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Disappearance of a child (theme)
Bullying

I Know You Started It by Daphne Benedis-Grab

There’s a fire in a seventh grader’s locker! Is it arson? A prank gone wrong? An accident? Eva, Dani, Liam, and Gabe are determined to figure out who started the fire, and why. And they each have their own reasons for wanting to be the first ones to figure out what really happened. While the administration is looking into it, evidence is scarce. It will take four students who can tap into the rumors, gossip, and hidden secrets of their school to uncover what really went on the day of the fire. And if they don’t figure it out in time? Well, one of them could be accused of the crime. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Fire (theme)
Bullying & cyberbullying
Blackmail

Taking Up Space by Alyson Gerber

Sarah loves basketball more than anything. Crushing it on the court makes her feel like she matters. And it’s the only thing that helps her ignore how much it hurts when her mom forgets to feed her. But lately Sarah can’t even play basketball right. She’s slower now and missing shots she should be able to make. Her body doesn’t feel like it’s her own anymore. She’s worried that changing herself back to how she used to be is the only way she can take control over what’s happening. When Sarah’s crush asks her to be partners in a cooking competition, she feels pulled in a million…. Read more,

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Parent & protagonist with disordered eating, including calorie counting & restrictive eating, and discussions of weight loss (theme), including child neglect (specifically forgetting to feed her child)
Bullying

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.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

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