Darius the Great is Not Okay
Publisher
Dial Books
Publication Year
2018
ISBN
9780525552963
Pages
314 pages
Genre
realism
Format
novel
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He's a Fractional Persian -- half, his mom's side -- and his first ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he's sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn't exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they're spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city's skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush the original Farsi version of his name -- and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he's Darioush to Sohrab. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Adib Khorram's brilliant debut is for anyone who's ever felt not good enough then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.
Grade Level
6-8; 9-12
Lexile Measure
HL710L
Diversity Topics
Racial Diversity; Culture/Ethnicity; Disability and Health; Biracial; Race discrimination; Bicultural; Bilingual; Immigrants and refugees; Mental illness; biracial teenager; racism; bicultural family; bicultural teenager; bilingual family; immigrant mother; depression
Main Character
male teenager
Race/Ethnicities
Asian (Persian) / White
Family Formation
mother and father
Awards
Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, 2018-2019, Winner, Young Adult
Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, 2019, Winner, Young Adult
Cybils Awards, 2018, Finalist, Young Adult Fiction
William C. Morris Award, 2019, Finalist
Amazon Editors' Picks: Best Books of the Year, 2018 Young Adult
Best Books for Teens, 2018
Best Children and YA Books, 2018 Young Adults
Choices, 2019 Fiction Young Adult
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, 2019 Young Adult Fiction
Keywords
Iran; extended family; friendship; travel; tea; Star Trek; coming-of-age; bullying; soccer
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Khorram, Adib, "Darius the Great is Not Okay" (2018). Diverse Families. 1706.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1706