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.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

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

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery mentioned
  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Lynching
  • Police brutality
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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.

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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
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Look Past by Eric Devine

Look Past by Eric Devine

Someone brutally murdered Mary Mathison, daughter of a prominent and very conservative local pastor, and Avery, a transgender boy who loved Mary, is bent on finding her killer. He goes to the crime scene to do some investigating but is quickly put in harm’s way. Reluctantly, Avery must move to the sidelines to wait for the police to do their job. However, following Mary’s funeral, Avery receives the first in a series of disturbing text messages that can only come from the killer, revealing that Avery is now a target. The killer claims that Mary’s murder was revenge… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Transmisia
  • Domestic violence
  • Suicide
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Physical assault
  • Bullying
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King’s Man by Sally Malcolm

King’s Man by Sally Malcolm

Had there been no war, Sam Hutchinson and Nate Tanner would have lived their lives together as intimate friends, and secret lovers. But when the revolution convulsed America, it threw them down on opposite sides of history.

Five years later, Sam is a Loyalist refugee in London, penniless, bitter, and scrambling to survive amid the city’s shadowy underworld. It’s a far cry from his respectable life as a Rhode Island lawyer, and the last person he wants to witness his ruin is Nate Tanner— the man he… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Scars
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Police violence & brutality
  • Imprisonment
  • Flogging recounted
  • Colonialism
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All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred Taylor

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

Cassie Logan is a young woman now, searching for her place in the world, a journey that takes her from Toledo to California, to law school in Boston, and, ultimately, in the 60s, home to Mississippi to participate in voter registration. She is witness to the now-historic events of the century: the Great Migration north, the rise of the civil rights movement, preceded and precipitated by the racist society of America, and the often violent confrontations that brought about change.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Sexual harassment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Lynchings
  • Police brutality
  • Physical assault
  • Immolation
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The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley 

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

As an African tightrope dancer in Victorian London, Iris is used to being strange. She is certainly a strange sight for leering British audiences always eager for the spectacle of colonial curiosity. But Iris also has a secret that even “strange” doesn’t capture…​ She cannot die.

Haunted by her unnatural power and with no memories of her past, Iris is obsessed with discovering… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Slavery
  • Human trafficking
  • Eugenics mentioned
  • Sex work mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Domestic abuse
  • Amnesia
  • Suicide
  • Drugging
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Involuntary medical experimentation
  • Hospitalisation
  • Cannibalism
  • Murder
  • Torture
  • Kidnapping
  • Police brutality
  • Fire
  • Poverty
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Under the Dome by Stephen King

Under the Dome by Stephen King

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighbouring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Gang rape
  • Suicide
  • Drug use
  • Necrophilia
  • Dead bodies
  • Murder
  • Police brutality
  • Animal death
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A Master of Djinn by P Djèlí Clark 

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Racism
  • Colourism
  • Colonialism
  • Disfigurmisia
  • Gambling addiction
  • Self-mutilation
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Police brutality
  • Immolation
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Three O’Clock in the Morning by Gianrico Carofiglio 

Three O’Clock in the Morning by Gianrico Carofiglio

Antonio is eighteen years old and on the cusp of adulthood. His father, a brilliant mathematician, hasn’t played a large part in his life since divorcing Antonio’s mother but when Antonio is diagnosed with epilepsy, they travel to Marseille to visit a doctor who may hold the hope for an effective treatment. It is there, in a foreign city, under strained circumstances, that they will get to know each other and connect for the first time. A beautiful, gritty, and charming port city… Read more.

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Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Police violence mentioned
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