Red, White, and Whole: A Newbery Honor Novel in Verse about an Indian American Girl Navigating Identity and Grief

by Rajani LaRocca

Teasing their hair into puffy clouds wearing tiny skirts and heels painting their nails neon colors and acting like they don’t know the answers in class even though I know they do.

Red, white, and whole, the precious river in our arteries, our veins, our hearts.

It feels like we’ve already entered the future, while they only live in the past.

We study biology, and I lap it up as quickly as my teacher will give it to me. Cells, those magical packets, the building blocks of everything, bursting with chemical reactions and molecules that make us who we are. Cells work and grow and multiply, just the right amount. They know their places, and work for the good of the whole organism.

Is brave, but not without fear. Because if you fear nothing, how can you be brave? Says what they believe is right. Because if you cannot say what you believe in, how much do you believe in it? Works to make the world better. Because doing something is even more important than talking about it. Acts out of love for others. Because caring for other people is the biggest difference between a hero and a villain.

How can holding hands make me feel so alive? Like rushing over rapids without wanting to steer?

Quietly Respectfully I demand to go to the hospital. And she listens.

As it turns out, I don’t know anything at all.

And it turns out I have yet another family, one I never thought to call my own.