Darius the Great Deserves Better

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

The Pearl Thief: Code Name Verity

Claudia and the Worlds Cutest Baby

What I Lost

American Panda

After Tupac and D Foster

Sure Signs of Crazy

Darius the Great

Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran.

Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's about to take his first-ever trip to Iran, and it's pretty overwhelming—especially when he's also dealing with clinical depression, a disapproving dad, and a chronically anemic social life. In Iran, he gets to know his ailing but still formidable grandfather, his loving grandmother, and the rest of his mom's family for the first time. And he meets Sohrab, the boy next door who changes everything.

Sohrab makes sure people speak English so Darius can understand what's going on. He gets Darius an Iranian National Football Team jersey that makes him feel like a True Persian for the first time. And he understands that sometimes, best friends don't have to talk. Darius has never had a true friend before, but now he's spending his days with Sohrab playing soccer, eating rosewater ice cream, and sitting together for hours in their special place, a rooftop overlooking the Yazdi skyline.

Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. When it's time to go home to America, he'll have to find a way to be Darioush on his own.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Darius the Great Deserves Better

Adib Khorram, 2020

Faith, Hope, and Ivy June

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, 2009

The Pearl Thief: Code Name Verity

Elizabeth Wein, 2017

Claudia and the Worlds Cutest Baby

Ann M. Martin, 1996

What I Lost

Alexandra Ballard, 2017

American Panda

Gloria Chao, 2018

After Tupac and D Foster

Jacqueline Woodson, 2008

Sure Signs of Crazy

Karen Harrington, 2013