SKY AND HER PARENTS

       Sky and her parents find out she has become severely ill. She ends up at the hospital and learns she will need an organ transplant. Along the way from waiting, she finds friends who, too, need an organ transplant. Sky and her new friends learn to receive organ transplants from different people of race, gender, and religion. After Sky gets her heart transplant, she discovers that everyone is one. "The donor can come from anyone and anywhere in different races, shapes, and sizes. We may look different from the outside, but from the inside, we are all one." These words set the mood for my children's picture book novel titled We are ONE. Sky (African American girl), age 8, lives in New York City; she experiences a near-fatal medical diagnosis that questions her racial equality. Sky needs a heart transplant. Alison and Justin (her parents) are worried that she will not receive the heart on time. Sky assumes that a new heart will come from someone who's in the same race as her. Alison explains that a heart can come from anyone in any race, shape, or size. Sky meets new friends at the hospital of all different races and religions in need of organ transplants. During their hospital stay, they become close friends. Sky practices her faith and prays for a new heart and new organs for her friends as well. She realizes that we, as people, are all the same and is aware of how racism and inequality are real worldwide; however, on the inside, we all bleed red. Sky and her friends receive the great news that they all have a match and learn their donors came from all around the world with different races, shapes, sizes, gender, and religions.