Dead Girls by Abigail Tarttelin

Dead Girls by Abigail Tarttelin

When her best friend Billie is found murdered, eleven-year-old Thera – fearless and forthright – considers it her duty to find the killer.

Aided by an Ouija board, Billie’s ghost, and the spirits of four other dead girls, she’s determined to succeed. The trouble with Thera, though, is that she doesn’t always know when to stop – and sometimes there’s a fine line between doing the right thing and doing something very, very bad indeed.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Slut shaming
  • Paedophilia
  • Child abuse
  • Death of child
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Bullying

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Defeated, crushed, and driven almost to extinction, the remnants of the human race are trapped on a planet that is constantly attacked by mysterious alien starfighters. Spensa, a teenage girl living among them, longs to be a pilot. When she discovers the wreckage of an ancient ship, she realizes this dream might be possible—assuming she can repair the ship, navigate flight school, and (perhaps most importantly) persuade the strange machine to help her. Because this ship, uniquely, appears to have a soul.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Genocide discussed
  • Death of a child
  • War themes & battle scenes
  • Animal hunting
  • Bullying

First Moon by Richard Amos

First Moon by Richard Amos

Need someone, or something, hunted down? Akira Murakami is your man! No target is too small for him to get his energy-sucking blades swinging, and all jobs are welcome at the right price. The bills have to be paid after all.

Living in a world where the apocalypse almost happened can be complicated, as is being the hybrid son of the High Werewolf of, well, everything. But Akira likes to live a relatively simpler life than dear old papa would like, shunning all the political crap, living by the sword and perfecting that recipe for dark chocolate and raspberry brownies. Killing is easy. Brownies are easy. Too easy. To hell with the simple life!

There’s a werewolf killer stalking the city, and Akira is about to be caught in the middle of everything.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Homomisia
  • Bullying mentioned

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf 

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf

I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command.

Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable.

But Suraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side—and when Pink’s shadows threaten to consume them both, they must find enough light to survive . . . before they are both lost to the darkness.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Death of a child
  • Bullying

Seven Days by Eve Ainsworth

Seven Days by Eve Ainsworth

A week can change everything. Beautiful and popular, Kez is a bully who doesn’t care who she hurts. Overweight and awkward, Jess is an easy target. But then Jess discovers someone who will stand up for her.

The problem? He’s Kez’s boyfriend.

Things are about to get nasty.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Attempted suicide
  • Bullying

Listen, Layla by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Listen, Layla by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Layla has ended the school year on a high and can’t wait to spend the holidays hanging out with her friends and designing a prize-winning Grand Designs Tourismo invention. But Layla’s plans are interrupted when her grandmother in Sudan falls ill and the family rush to be with her.

The last time Layla went to Sudan she was only a young child. Now she feels torn between her Sudanese and Australian identities. As political tensions in Sudan erupt, so too do tensions between Layla and her family. Layla is determined not to lose her place in the invention team, but will she go against her parents’ wishes? What would a Kandaka do?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Islamomisia
  • Racism
  • Sexism discussed
  • Grandmother hospitalised due to a stroke
  • Cousin hospitalised for gunshot wounds to the shoulder & leg
  • Death of a friend mentioned
  • Bullying
  • Gun violence
  • Riots, on-page

You Must Be Layla by Randa Abdel-Fattah

You Must Be Layla by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Layla’s mind goes a million miles a minute, so does her mouth – unfortunately, her better judgement can take a while to catch up! Although she believes she was justified for doing what she did, a suspension certainly isn’t the way she would have wished to begin her time at her fancy new high school. Despite the setback, Layla’s determined to show everyone that she does deserve her scholarship and sets her sights on winning a big invention competition. But where to begin?

Looking outside and in, Layla will need to come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be if she has any chance of succeeding.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Islamophobia
  • Racism
  • Coming out themes
  • Emesis
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying

Arab, Australian, Other edited by Randa Abdel-Fattah and Sara Saleh

Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity edited by Randa Abdel-Fattah & Sara M. Saleh

Although there are 22 separate Arab nationalities representing an enormous variety of cultural backgrounds and experiences, the portrayal of Arabs in Australia tends to range from homogenising (at best) to racist pop-culture caricatures.

This collection explores the experience of living as a member of the Arab diaspora in Australia with contributions from Paula Abood, Nokomi Achkar, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Rooan Al Kalmashi, Ryan Al-Natour, Rawah Arja, Hana Assafiri, Sarah Ayoub, Omar Bensaidi, Sara El Sayed, Asma Fahmi, Farid Farid, Ruby Hamad, Abdulrahaman Hammoud, Lamisse Hamouda, Amani Haydar, Miran Hosny, Lora Inak, Elias Jahshan, Nicola Joseph, Huna Amweero, Zainab Kadhim, Mohammad Awad, Wafa Kazal and Yassir Morsi

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Islamophobia
  • Gang rape discussed
  • Child abuse
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father & mother
  • Murder
  • Gang violence
  • War themes
  • Deportation & displacement
  • Bullying

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Racism
  • Sexual assault
  • Statutory rape
  • Rape recounted
  • Student-teacher relationship
  • Suicide
  • Disordered eating mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Nonconsensual drugging (roofies)
  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Murder
  • Car accident recounted
  • Kidnapping
  • Blackmail
  • Animal death
  • Bullying
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Bully by Penelope Douglas

Bully by Penelope Douglas

My name is Tate. He doesn’t call me that, though. He would never refer to me so informally, if he referred to me at all. No, he’ll barely even speak to me. But he still won’t leave me alone.

We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I’ve been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got more sadistic as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to stay out of his way. I even went to France for a year, just to avoid him.

But I’m done hiding from him now, and there’s no way in hell I’ll allow him to ruin my senior year. He might not have changed, but I have. It’s time to fight back. I’m not going to let him bully me anymore.

GoodreadsThe Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Sexism
  • Child abuse & neglect discussed
  • Bullying (theme)
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