Red, White, and Whole

Rajani LaRocca wrote Red, White, and Whole as a verse novel for middle grade readers, and it won a Newbery Honor in 2022. Reha is thirteen, the daughter of Indian immigrants in 1980s America, trying to balance the expectations of her family and the social pressures of her largely white school. Then her mother is diagnosed with leukemia.

The verse format keeps the book emotionally direct without overwhelming younger readers. LaRocca writes about Indian American identity, mother-daughter love, and serious illness with the same patient attention.

The references to 1980s pop culture and the Indian classical music Reha’s mother loves give the book texture without becoming the focus.

For readers who liked Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home, Thanhha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again, or Padma Venkatraman’s verse novels, this belongs on the same shelf. Quietly devastating in the way the best middle grade can be.