Cheese Rice

Middle Grade Contemporary novel. For fans of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., Front Desk, and The Skin I’m In. Completed while in residence at Monson Arts and Millay Arts’ Wintertide. 

Daisy de la Cruz thinks she’s white.

Well, kind of. She knows that her skin is darker than all of her classmates. She knows that her eyes are a little smaller. She knows that she has to explain the spaces in her last name every time they have a substitute teacher. But mostly, Daisy de la Cruz thinks she’s just like everyone else.

It’s not until she starts fifth grade that she realizes she is different. It seems that everyone else – her classmates, a new girl named Ivy, the mean and scary Mrs. Z, and even the standardized tests – suddenly spots the difference, too. 

First, she tries to erase her differences as best she can, killing herself trying to fit in. But when that doesn’t work, she takes a different approach. Over the course of the school year, half-white-half-Filipina Daisy learns about fractions, the menstrual cycle, eyelash curlers, and what it means to be mixed race in a world that wants you to be just one thing.