Red, White, and Whole
by Rajani LaRocca
Book Cover Picture:
Category: Novel in Verse
Target Age Group: Ages 8-12, grades 3-7
Format: Paperback
Summary: Rhea is an American born Indian girl and finds herself caught in two worlds. One where she is at school and surrounded by Americans and one at home sounded by Indians. She is frustrated as she tries to find herself while also living up to the expectations of her parents. Her world is divided again when her mom gets Leukemia.
Justification: Red, White and Whole is a winner of the John Newbery Honor , Walter Dean Myers Award, New England Book Award, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, Crystal Kite Award among others.
Review: This review will examine the plot, the effect of the story written in prose and my overall experience while reading the book.
The plot of this book following Rhea, as she is growing up. The poems skip around in her life from the present timeline as a 13 year old to memories when she was younger. While it does skip around in the timeline, the poems are very clear as to when they are being written and it is still easy to follow. Rhea is an American born Indian girl who has to navigate the merging of these two cultures. The author does an amazing job in capturing the want to be a "normal American" and the pressure of being a good Indian girl. In the present timeline, Rhea's mother gets sick and is diagnosed with Leukemia. Rhea's life is then split in two again while she spends time at home and time at the hospital. The plot is very relatable and provides a great picture of how life is a "stream with many tributaries" (LaRocca, 2021).
The novel is written in prose. Normally, I try to steer clear of verse novels because I am unable to feel the rhythm. I chose to ignore how the words were on the paper and just read it through. The poems were beautifully written and the feeling of the characters was depicted artfully. Each "chapter" is a short poem last no more than three pages. This made the pace of the book very fast. You wanted to just keep reading because the story was whizzing by! I read the entire novel in one sitting.
The themes in this book really resonated with me. I am 1/2 Pakistani and 1/2 American born in America. While my background isn't exactly like Rhea's, I really connected with her and related to being pulled in two directions culturally and trying to find my own path. There are a few things that stood out that felt like I could have written myself. At a birthday party, she just eats cake when the cheese pizza ran out and only pepperoni was left. This happened to me all the time! She just wants to be American and do American things like go to a dance and hang out with friends that are boys. Been there! She even took French in school. I took French over Spanish because EVERYONE mistook me for being Hispanic and would expect me to speak Spanish and yell at when I didn't. To give me an out I took French and found myself wondering if Rhea had the same instincts. There's also the overarching need to prove that you're a good Desi girl the way your parents want you to be and always feel like you're disappointing them. Being so connected to the main character is so unique for me. I laughed, I cried..a lot.. and overall ate the book up whole.
My overall rating for this novel is 4.5. Must read.
My overall rating for this novel is 4.5. Must read.
Resources
LaRocca, R. (2021). Red, white and whole. Quill Tree Books
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