Ahmed Aziz's Epic Year by Nina Hamza

4 Stars | Nina Hamza | 2021 | Realistic Fiction | Grades 3-7  | 320 pages 

| 7  Hours Audio 

I preordered this book when I heard it was written by a Minnesota debut author and was about a Muslim American family who was moving to Minnesota from Hawaii.  A diverse book with a Minnesota connection and my favorite state of Hawaii made me interested.

This book is about a boy who is struggling to fit into a new middle school and has to deal with the emotional situation of having a father who is very ill. In fact, they move to Minnesota in order to get treatment for the Dad.  He is put into a reading class that assigns three classic books to read over the summer: Holes, Bridge to Terabithia, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  As a reluctant reader and classic underachiever, Ahmed figures he can fake his reading efforts.  However, he finds out that his class is depending on him to put forth more effort.  

Teachers will love this book because of the great connections it has to literature. It is also a great back-to-school book!