The right book for you.

The past few years have seen a growing awareness of, and sensitivity to, mental health issues.  In response, media frequently carry ‘trigger warnings’ if the subject matter of a programme, movie or article could prove harmful to someone with traumatic experiences in their past.

So what about books?  Should they come with mental-health alerts as well?

While we haven’t got to the stage of putting warning stickers on books in the library, there is a case for PTSD sufferers, for example, to be able to choose books that won’t put them at risk of further trauma.

There are a couple of sites on the internet that can be helpful in this regard: www.booktriggerwarnings.com  and  www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/trigger-warnings 

Both analyse an impressive number of titles for potential triggers, but neither are exhaustive lists, particularly for New Zealand books.  In the event that you can’t find the information you need on these sites (or from a more general internet search of book reviews), it’s always worth asking a librarian.  Even if they haven’t yet read the book themselves, they’ll probably know someone who has!

Find more great reading recommendations on our Books and Reading page