AHMED AZIZ’S EPIC YEAR

Twelve-year-old Ahmed Aziz has never lived anywhere other than Hawaii, where everyone in his neighborhood knows everything about him.

When his Indian American Muslim family moves to his father’s hometown in Minnesota—one of three places in the world where his father can get the treatment he needs to recover from an inherited form of hepatitis C—Ahmed is anxious, heartbroken, and afraid. Things do not get off to a promising start. On Ahmed’s first day at his mostly White school, his neighbor Jack bullies him. Plus Ahmed is assigned to an accelerated section of language arts, a class taught by his father’s old friend Janet Gaardner—even though he hates to read. Ahmed’s homesickness only intensifies as he struggles to find a place among his peers and as his father’s illness worsens. However, he begins to find comfort in places he never expected, including in hearing memories of his uncle, who died at the age of 12 in the same hospital where Ahmed’s dad is now fighting for his life. Eventually Ahmed realizes that he is best loved and happiest when he is himself. This well-paced book tells a compassionate and authentic story about how families deal with intergenerational grief. The author seamlessly incorporates details of Ahmed’s heritage alongside his father’s Midwestern childhood, in the process accurately and unapologetically portraying Ahmed’s multifaceted identity.

An emotionally perceptive book about grief, identity, and change.