Tag Archives: Bullying & Hazing

Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen

Willow loves the woods near her house. They’re calm and quiet, so different from her own turbulent emotions, which she keeps locked away. When her emotions get the better of her one day, she decides to run away into the woods.
There, she meets Pilu, a lost tree spirit who can’t find her way back home—which turns out to be the magnolia grove Willow’s mom used to take her to. Willow offers to help Pilu, and the two quickly become friends.
But the journey is long, and Pilu isn’t sure she’s ready to return home yet… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Bullying

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Bullying
  • Anxiety
  • Emesis
  • Heart failure mentioned
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of an animal
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Poisoning mentioned
  • War themes

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, including microaggressions & slurs
  • Bullying
  • Cyberharassment, including doxxing
  • Sexual assault & rape recounted
  • Emotional abuse, specifically gaslighting
  • Suicidal ideation
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a daughter
  • Death of a friend
  • Graphic death by choking

Best Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Sixth grade is supposed to be perfect. Shannon’s got a sure spot in the in-crowd called The Group, and her best friend is their leader, Jen, the most popular girl in school. But the rules are always changing, and Shannon has to scramble to keep up. She never knows which TV shows are cool, what songs to listen to, and who she’s allowed to talk to. Who makes these rules, anyway? And does Shannon have to follow them?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Concussion mentioned
  • Physical assault resulting in broken ribs & jaw

Friends Forever by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Shannon is in eighth grade, and life is more complicated than ever. Everything keeps changing. Her classmates are starting to date each other (but nobody wants to date her!), and no matter how hard she tries, Shannon can never seem to just be happy. As she works through her insecurities and undiagnosed depression, she worries about disappointing all the people who care about her. Is something wrong with her? Can she be the person everyone expects her to be? And who does she actually want to be?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual harassment of a minor*
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Bullying

Context: The protagonist is groped by a shopping centre Father Christmas who tells her he ‘wants’ her.

Real Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham

Shannon and Adrienne have been best friends ever since they were little. But one day, Adrienne starts hanging out with Jen, the most popular girl in class and the leader of a circle of friends called The Group. Everyone in The Group wants to be Jen’s #1, and some girls would do anything to stay on top . . . even if it means bullying others. Now every day is like a roller coaster for Shannon. Will she and Adrienne stay friends? Can she stand up for herself? And is she in The Group—or out?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical, emotional & verbal sibling abuse
  • Sexual assault of a minor (forced kiss)
  • Bullying

Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas

Meet the blue-eyed devil . . . His name is Hardy Cates. He’s a self-made millionaire who comes from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s made enemies in the rough-and-tumble ride to the top of Houston’s oil industry. He’s got hot blood in his veins. And vengeance on his mind. Meet the heiress . . . She’s Haven Travis. Despite her family’s money, she refuses to set out on the path they’ve chosen for her. But when Haven marries a man her family disapproves of, her life is set on a new and dangerous course. Two years later, Haven comes home, determined to guard her heart. And Hardy… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotional, physical & verbal child abuse
  • Domestic abuse (theme)
  • Rape
  • Narcissistic Personality Disorder
  • Cancer mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Cyberbullying & doxxing

Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf by Hayley Krischer

Ali Greenleaf and Blythe Jensen couldn’t be more different. Ali is sweet, bitingly funny, and just a little naive. Blythe is beautiful, terrifying, and the most popular girl in school. They’ve never even talked to each other, until a party when Ali decides she’ll finally make her move on Sean Nessel, her longtime crush, and the soccer team’s superstar. But Sean pushes Ali farther than she wants to go. When she resists–he rapes her. Blythe sees Ali when she runs from the party, everyone sees her. And Blythe knows something happened with Sean, she knows how he… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Victim-blaming
  • Rape & sexual assault of a minor (theme), on-page
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use
  • Overdose
  • Bullying

Torn by Cat Clarke

Torn by Cat Clarke

Alice King isn’t expecting the holiday of her dreams when she sets off on a trip to the wilderness with her mates. But when her best friend Cass decides to teach mean girl Tara a lesson, Alice finds herself in a nightmare she can’t escape. Now Alice is the guardian of a secret too horrific to tell; and a secret too terrible to keep. A secret that will change all of their lives for ever…

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Suicide
  • Death of a friend
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Bullying

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson

The Lucky Ones by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through–no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her. Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister… and the one faithful friend who… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Grap

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Substance addiction
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • School shooting (theme)
  • Stalking
  • Bullying