Indian American Rani Kelkar’s parents have always been clear: No dating in high school. She’s always respected that rule. She meets Oliver, who is white, at an art show at the start of her senior year. She’s exhibiting photographs she took on her last visit to her grandparents in India; he’s showing his paintings. The two banter easily and their attraction is immediate. And when they start secretly dating, he’s sensitive to her desires as their relationship becomes sexual. Still, he sometimes does things that annoy or offend her. It begins with a nickname: He calls her Princess Jasmine. But she doesn’t seriously challenge the racism, consumed by buoyant emotions and the physical charge of being in love. When Oliver, who has a messy home life, begins pressuring Rani to introduce him to her parents, something she’s made clear she cannot do, she struggles with guilt at shutting him out of her family, and anger that he doesn’t respect or try to understand where she’s coming from. But it isn’t until her growing unease that he views her culture –and her—as exotic comes into full and shocking relief that she gains clarity. Rooted in Rani’s perspective, this nuanced and compelling novel reveals Oliver as genuinely likable in many ways, making the racism he doesn’t see or acknowledge in his behavior all the more powerful—and realistic—when it’s fully revealed. Through it all, Rani’s family, immediate and extended, are sources of grounding and pride in her identity. (Age 14 and older)

A luminous story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries and the complications of a cross-cultural relationship. Perfect for fans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson.

Praise for American Betiya
A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of 2022
A YALSA Best Best Fiction for Young Adults
A Cosmopolitan Best 100 Books of All Time
A Book Riot best YA Book of 2021
A South Asia Book Award 2022 honoree
A Children's Cooperative 2022 Best Book of the Year
A 2022 Nerdy Book Club Best Novel Award Winner

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.

Winner of SCBWI's Emerging Voices award, Anuradha D. Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways cultures can clash in an interracial relationship. Braiding together themes of sexuality, artistic expression, and appropriation, she gives voice to a girl claiming ownership of her identity, one shattered stereotype at a time.

"A brave, beautiful exploration of identity--those thrust upon us, and those we forge for ourselves." --Elana K. Arnold, award-winning author of What Girls Are Made Of