I don’t know a ton about the eighties, but if you grew up in the eighties, or love references to the eighties, this book will sing to your heart. This book also celebrates Indian culture and Reha’s heritage, including her parents and their story of immigration, as well as Indian food and community. I feel everything Reha feels, the fear, the worry, the frustration with restrictions, and yearning to be whole. Many novels in verse just seem to me like incomplete prose (sorry), but there’s something poetic and yet so full about the way Rajani LaRocca tells this story. Have I mentioned it’s a novel in verse? I say that again because it’s completely immersive - unlike some verse novels. Between school, family issues, and navigating her affection for a boy in her neighborhood, Reha has her plate full. Her mom is diagnosed with leukemia and Reha’s life is turned upside down. Reha is understandably frustrated at her mother’s lack of understanding, but she’s about to have more problems. She makes all of Reha’s clothes herself, and is upset when Reha says she would like to go to the school dance. Her mother doesn’t approve of Reha acting more American than Indian. The year is 1983 and 13-year-old Reha is caught between two cultures: her Indian family and community at home and the all-American experience at school and with her white “school best friend.” But it’s not all rosy. Red, White, and Whole is Rajani LaRocca’s newest middle-grade verse novel.
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