Gr 3--7--Ahmed Aziz recalls the year when he was 12 and forced to move from Hawaii, the only home he'd ever known, to his father's hometown in Minnesota so that his father could receive lifesaving medical treatment for a genetic illness. Frustrated by his parents' choice to move to Minnesota and his lack of control over his life, Ahmed reluctantly embraces his new community and faces the looming legacy of his late uncle's life and death. When a neighborhood bully targets him, Ahmed must decide who it is he wants to be; it is an epic year indeed! In this moving and well-paced novel, Hamza sensitively offers a multidimensional portrayal of characters, young and old, and skillfully weaves in a narrative of the power of good teaching and literature. Young readers resistant to reading may relate to Ahmed's initial feelings about books, while fans of the works discussed within (including Louis Sachar's Holes and Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia) will be delighted. References to the family's Indian heritage and Muslim religion are seamlessly interspersed throughout, offering a warm and authentic depiction of an American Muslim family. VERDICT A strong debut destined to become a classic. Recommended for classrooms and libraries of all types, particularly where Zanib Mian's "Planet Omar" series flies off the shelves.--Mahasin A. Aleem, Oakland P.L., CA

Moving away from everything you've ever known is difficult for anyone, but 12-year-old Ahmed Aziz, who is Indian American and Muslim, has an especially difficult time as he and his family relocate from Hawaii to his father's hometown of Farthing, Minn. While the move allows Ahmed's father, who has cirrhosis, to receive experimental treatment, Ahmed is less than enthused that his parents selected Minnesota over the other two locations offering the treatment--California and Japan. Immersed in a mostly white environment and forced to deal with bullies for the first time in his life, Ahmed copes by doing something he rarely does: reading. As Ahmed and his classmates dissect Louis Sachar's Holes and other children's novels in their accelerated language arts class, Ahmed slowly begins to develop a love for reading, with his deepening understanding of the characters and analyses helping him to navigate interpersonal issues and change in his own life. Hamza writes with verve and a palpable fondness for her nuanced characters in this quietly absorbing debut middle grade novel, which offers discerning lessons on reading, love, and adaptation. Ages 8--12. Agent: Alyssa Henkin, Trident Media Group. (June)

Narrated by Ahmed when he's slightly older but still sarcastic, this debut novel is an affecting reflection on the boy's tumultuous sixth-grade year. His story begins with a sudden move from Hawaii to Minnesota, where his father can get the risky but lifesaving medical treatment he needs. Compounding an already stressful situation is the fact that Ahmed is the newest target of his class' bully, the white and überpopular Jack, which Ahmed assumes is due to his brown skin, courtesy of his Indian heritage. Hamza has a lot of nuanced plotlines in play--and she does an admirable job of keeping them all relevant to the main narrative and following them to completion--some of the themes of which are family, finding yourself, faith, dealing with hate crimes, and friendship. A particular touchstone will be the language arts class where Ahmed has a bit of a breakthrough while studying classics many readers will be familiar with. As for Ahmed, he is a kind, intelligent underachiever whom readers will feel for as he struggles and perseveres.

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. (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.