In January 2019, I was in Seattle, Washington attending the Youth Media Awards as a member of the William C. Morris Award Committee. The winner was Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay. Fast forward to May 2020 and I had the distinct pleasure of reading an advanced copy of its sequel, Darius the Great Deserves Better. If it was still winter, it would be akin to sipping that morning hot cocoa while watching the fluffy snow fall but since it’s spring in our little area of upstate New York, reading Khorram’s follow up felt like the blooms of a magnolia tree. Brightness and beauty. 

Darius’s grandfather might not survive after their trip to Iran last year, the family’s financial situation sends Darius’s father to a project out of state, and the dream internship turned job that Darius has coveted might not be what he really wants. This is the backdrop where Darius’s romantic predicaments set the wheels in motion while he keeps up with school and soccer. The story is wholehearted. It’s big love. 

But if I stop to think about it, Khorram’s most valuable contribution is Darius’s constant questioning which provides a lens for teen readers to ask the tough questions of themselves and others. This internal dialogue mines the gold of Khorram’s personal storytelling. Authentic to the core.

And I can’t help but connect on a more personal level too in which the answer to anything in the Kellner family is tea. Their family is my family. And elementally, provides a mirror or window for how our cultures are who we are and we should embrace it: a celebration of our similarities and differences using literature.

It goes without saying that Darius the Great Deserves Better rises to the top much like Khorram’s debut because you can’t help but root for Darius. The writing is cerebral and emotional, using all of the senses which is the kind of experience that seeps into the cracks of our reading souls. I don’t ever want to leave Darius’s world– so whether Khorram decides to write a third or not, I’ll still feel satisfied that he’s bringing his A-game. Goooooooooooaaaaaaal.