Red White and Whole

Rajani La Rocca, Red, White and Whole, HarperCollins Publishers, March 2024, 224 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780063047433

Red, White and Whole is a verse, multi-award winning novel including a Newbery Honor and the Walter Dean Myers Award in 2022. The title refers to the red and white blood cells that are central to the story. Rajani La Rocca is an Indian American doctor, who is also a novelist, writing particularly for middle to upper primary readers.

Reha, the main character and narrator of the book, is also an Indian American girl who is struggling to reconcile the two worlds and two cultures in which she lives. She very much wants to be able to do the things her American friends do, and yet, on the other hand, she wants to be the good daughter her parents expect her to be and for her mother especially, this means holding onto many aspects of Indian culture that her mother herself grew up with.

All this becomes insignificant, however, when Reha’s mother’s blood ‘betrays her’ as Reha describes it. Her mother is diagnosed with leukemia and treatment is ineffective. The effect on the family is devastating and, at a young age (she’s in Year 8) Reha has to deal with this loss and the consequent grief.

There is quite a lot of detail in the book about blood, its composition and how it works and what leukemia does to the balance of the blood cells as well as the treatment. Ironically, prior to becoming ill, Reha’s mother worked in a haematology laboratory, separating blood for various medical purposes.

The verse structure works well, and the characterisation is strong. This is a moving book about friendship, grief, love, family and growing up. Recommended.

Reviewed by Margot Hillel

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