My last OBOB title for this season, and a first book by author Pancholy. The Best At It tells the story of 7th grader Rahul Kapoor, and Indian American living in Indiana and navigating middle school much like you are (or did!). He is really good at math, but afraid of the stereotypes that that brings with it. His skin is brown, unlike most of his White classmates, and that causes him stress, too. And, in addition to being in 7th grade and trying to survive middle school, he thinks he might be gay.
Pancholy weaves all of these elements together well, and with a lot of humor, but also a lot of realism. You'll find yourself thinking and feeling along with Rahul, and especially in the second half of the story I found myself really feeling for him and his circumstances. There were many places throughout the story where the author's "newness" to YA books comes through (he's not as polished as some other, more seasoned writers are), but nothing glaring or over-the-top obvious.
The themes in the story are important ones, and still some that are not written about as often as they should be, in my pug opinion. The Best At It won a Stonewall Honor Award, given by the American Library Association for books addressing themes of the LGBTQA+ community. That alone tells you that this book is worth your time. Overall, important, well written (but not amazing), and I expect we will see more books from Pancholy in the future! 4 paws!
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