Content Warning: This section contains references to and descriptions of racism and anti-immigrant violence.

Karina Chopra is one of the novel’s two primary characters. The chapters titled with her first name are written from her first-person point of view and present her experiences and storyline from her vantage point. Karina is starting seventh grade at Spring Hill Middle School. She lives with her father Jay and her mother Trisha in Houston, Texas. Shortly after the school year starts, Karina’s paternal grandfather Shiv Chopra, or Papa, comes to live with her, too. Karina is thankful for Papa’s presence at home: He can be her “own personal tutor at home” and she will get to spend “more time [on] her photography” because Papa will keep her company when her parents are working (8). Photography is one of Karina’s favorite hobbies besides reading—it gives her a way to express her feelings when she doesn’t have the language to talk about them.

Karina, a third-generation Indian immigrant, learns to claim and accept her identity over the course of the novel. Although Karina loves her family, she struggles to be proud of her background and faces bullying at school for how she looks and expresses herself.