AMERICAN BETIYA
Fans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson will identify with this story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries and her boyfriend's exoticization of her Indian heritage.
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, encroaching on her family and her culture. Their relationship is nearly at the breaking point, when a family tragedy draws Rani to India for a summer. There, she gains perspective on what it means to be true to herself and what that means for her and Oliver.
Winner of SCBWI's Emerging Voices award, Anuradha Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways privilege and bias can twist an interracial relationship into something unrecognizable as love. Rani's journey to reclaim her identity will speak to anyone who's ever had to fight to be seen as more than a stereotype.