A Literature Break

With everything else that is going on, I haven’t actually written about one of my main educational interests in quite a while – YA literature. Diversity in YA lit has become an important topic of conversation and has lead to some really great books gaining recognition. There are also some that you might not have heard of, but would make great additions to your classroom library.

Daruis the Great is Not Okay is the story of a Persian boy who visits Iran for the first time with his family. He meets his grandparents in person and becomes friends with their neighbor. Darius learns about his culture, heritage and himself. He is also contending with not fitting in high school and clinical depression, relatable topics for many students.

When I read this book, I thought immediately about my students who come from different countries and who sometimes go back at seemingly inconvenient times to those countries where their extended families still live. This book illustrated how important those trips are for those kids to be able to connect with their roots and their cultures.

I also appreciated the inclusion of Darius’s depression. This is not a BOOK ABOUT DEPRESSION, but it shows that the character lives with it, and manages it and how the medication and chemical imbalances impact his interactions with his friends and with his family. The best part of the book was his discussion about depression with his father, and what he learns about his father and how it improves their relationship.

I would recommend this book for literature circles or independent reading. The interest level is high school level and it’s Lexile reading level is 710 Lexile, which is equivalent to a 6th grade reading level. More reviews can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37506437-darius-the-great-is-not-okay