BIPOC Lit – Page 30 – Trigger Warning Database

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros

Efrén Nava’s Amá is his Soperwoman, named after the delicious Mexican sopes his mother often prepares. Both Amá and Apá work hard all day to provide for the family, making sure Efrén and his younger siblings Max and Mía feel safe and loved. But Efrén worries about his parents; although he’s American-born, his parents are undocumented. His worst nightmare comes true one day when Amá doesn’t return from work and is deported across the border to Tijuana, México. Now more than ever, Efrén must channel his inner Soperboy to help take care of and try to reunite his family.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Deportation (theme)
ICE raids, off-page

True Colors by Lilah Sturges

Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges and illustrated by polterink

At Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqual Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types, being yourself has a long tradition of being celebrated, and no one knows that better than Ripley, who has spent a summer going where the wind takes her. But sometimes going against the grain is starting to feel like she’s going against her friends, and Ripley’s not sure if being unique is all it’s cracked up to be. So when she meets a Zebracorn with the ability to blend in anywhere, Ripley’s starts to think she should take on a new identity, one that looks more like everyone else.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Bullying
Fire

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

In a small town in western Nigeria, four young brothers take advantage of their strict father’s absence from home to go fishing at a forbidden local river. They encounter a dangerous local madman who predicts that the oldest boy will be killed by one of his brothers. This prophecy unleashes a tragic chain of events of almost mythic proportions.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Incest
Necrophilia
Animal death

In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston

In a Badger Way by Shelly Laurenston

Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas. Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring. But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Ableism
Sexual harassment
Panic attacks
Discussions of weight
Alcohol consumption
Physical injury, including broken bones
Emesis
Needles & syringes
Medical human experimentation
Kidnapping of a child
Explosion
Physical assault
Car accident
Injury of a dog

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sánchez

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed. But it’s not long before… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexual assault
Cheating
Anxiety
Depression
Attempted suicide
Self-harm
Abortion mentioned
Death of a sibling

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely

Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there’s a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she’s forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin. Along the way, she lays bare the quirks of southern society with humour, irony, and a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Ableism

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Darius Kellner is having a bit of a year. Since his trip to Iran this past spring, a lot has changed. He’s getting along with his dad, and his best friend Sohrab is only a Skype call away. Between his first boyfriend, Landon, his varsity soccer practices, and his internship at his favorite tea shop, Darius is feeling pretty okay. Like he finally knows what it means to be Darius Kellner. Then, of course, everything changes. Darius’s grandmothers are in town for a long visit while his dad is gone on business, and Darius isn’t sure whether they even like him. The internship isn’t what Darius thought it would be, and now he doesn’t know… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial slur
Homomisia
Misgendering
Depression
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a grandfather from a brain tumour
Bullying

Kings of B’more by R Eric Thomas

Kings of B’more by R. Eric Thomas

With junior year starting in the fall, Harrison feels like he’s on the precipice of, well, everything. Standardized testing, college, and the terrifying unknowns and looming pressures of adulthood after that–it’s like the future wants to eat him alive. Which is why Harrison is grateful that he and his best friend Linus will face these things together. But at the end of a shift at their summer job, Linus invites Harrison to their special spot overlooking the city to deliver devastating news: he’s moving out of state at the end of the week. To keep from completely losing it–and partially inspired by a cheesy movie-night pick… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Abandonment
Alcohol consumption
Suicidal ideation

All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman

All the Ways Home by Elsie Chapman

Sometimes, home isn’t where you expect to find it. After losing his mom in a fatal car crash, Kaede Hirano–now living with a grandfather who is more stranger than family–developed anger issues and spent his last year of middle school acting out. Best-friendless and critically in danger repeating the seventh grade, Kaede is given a summer assignment: write an essay about what home means to him, which will be even tougher now that he’s on his way to Japan to reconnect with his estranged father and older half-brother. Still, if there’s a chance Kaede can finally build a new… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a mother in a car accident

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing “factories.”

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Rape
Genocide
Body horror, including dental & eyeball horror
Medical experimentation
Torture