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Depression

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

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Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram
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In this sequel to Darius the Great is Not Okay, it looks like Darius’s life is fantastic. He’s playing varsity soccer, has friends, has a boyfriend, and he has an internship at a fantastic tea shop that he loves. But his boyfriend is pressuring him, he parents are working really long hours after they spent so much money on their trip home to Iran, his grandfather is dying, his best friend is MIA most of the time, and there’s still that bully. Frankly, Darius the Great deserves better. I loved this first book and I loved the second. Darius is completely relatable as he tries to figure out life and his own feelings.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram, (List Price: $12.99, Dial Press, 9780593108253, August 2021)

Reviewed by Jennifer, Bookmiser in Marietta, GA

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Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

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by Adib Khorram
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This is one of the best YA novels I have read recently. Darius is an utterly relatable character who just feels like he never fits in: he’s too Persian for America, too American for Iran. When he travels to Iran for the first time, Darius could not feel more out of place, yet he meets a boy who finally makes him feel okay. This book is a powerful story of friendship and does a beautiful job of normalizing depression and discussing the experience of growing up with multiple cultural identities.

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram, (List Price: $8.99, Dial Books, 9780593857052, April 2024)

Reviewed by Tenley Soergel, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky

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Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster by Manka Kasha

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Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster
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Small Knight’s parents want her to be a princess, but that is the opposite of what she wants, which is to be a knight who goes on adventures. Small Knight worries about telling her parents the truth, and finds that the worry she keeps inside has grown into a dark monster who follows her everywhere. During a quest to find the truth about the monster, Small Knight realizes she has to look inside herself to fight the monster, and although it may never fully go away, she is in control of her destiny and dreams. SMALL KNIGHT AND THE ANXIETY MONSTER is an honest and important book for children.

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster by Manka Kasha (List Price: $18.99, Feiwel & Friends, 9781250618795, 6/1/2021)

Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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