BIPOC Lit – Page 58 – Trigger Warning Database

American Betiya by Anuradha Rajurkar

American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar

Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in–his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art–make him her mother’s worst nightmare. They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver’s troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself–and what’s really brewing beneath the surface of her first love… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Misogyny
Child abandonment & neglect
Substance addiction
Alcohol consumption
Drug use
Unplanned pregnancy
Suicide & attempted suicide
Grief & loss depiction
Death of a friend
Death of a grandparent

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A Black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloguing everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Homomisic slur
Racism
Depression & depressive episode
Attempted suicide recounted
Alcohol consumption
Emesis
Police brutality discussed
Bullying

And We Rise by Erica Martin

And We Rise by Erica Martin

In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin’s debut poetry collection walks readers through the Civil Rights Movement—from the well-documented events that shaped the nation’s treatment of Black people, beginning with the “Separate but Equal” ruling—and introduces lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement and our nation’s centuries-long fight for justice and equality.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery mentioned
Racism & racial slurs
Lynching
Police brutality

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar

As the only Indian American kid in her small town, Lekha Divekar feels like she has two versions of herself: Home Lekha, who loves watching Bollywood movies and eating Indian food, and School Lekha, who pins her hair over her bindi birthmark and avoids confrontation at all costs, especially when someone teases her for being Indian. When a girl Lekha’s age moves in across the street, Lekha is excited to hear that her name is Avantika .nd she’s Desi, too! .. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Colourism
Hate crimes
Bullying

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism & racial profiling
Ku Klux Klan & white supremacy
Death of a parent recounted
Murder
Gun violence
Police brutality & violence
Lynching mentioned
Incarceration of a parent

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

For as long as she can remember, it’s been Robin and her mom against the world. Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Racism
Sexism
Bullying
Death of a pet

Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

Heart and Seoul by Jen Frederick

As a Korean adoptee, Hara Wilson doesn’t need anyone telling her she looks different from her white parents. She knows. Every time Hara looks in the mirror, she’s reminded that she doesn’t look like anyone else in her family–not her loving mother, Ellen; not her jerk of a father, Pat; and certainly not like Pat’s new wife and new “real” son. At the age of twenty-five, she thought she had come to terms with it all, but when her father suddenly dies, an offhand comment at his funeral triggers an identity crisis… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Grief & loss depiction
Death of a father

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted, but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother. Raikama has dark magic of her own, and she banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes, and warning Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Self-harm
Blood depiction
Body horror
Death of a parent
Murder
Kidnapping
Fire
Animal death

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Freewater by Amina Luqman-Dawson

Under the cover of night, twelve-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp. In this society created by formerly enslaved people and some freeborn children, Homer finds new friends, almost forgetting where he came from. But when… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

Slavery
Child abuse

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham

When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family’s property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past, the present, and herself. One hundred years earlier, a single violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self-discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what’s right the night Tulsa burns.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

Racism & racial slurs
Hate crime
Blood & gore depiction, including dead bodies
Murder
Lynching
Car accident
Riots