Being an all-american boy means a few things: hanging out with the cool kids, looking the part, and of course, staying up to date on all the newest video games. Too bad life has other plans in book one of this hilarious and poignant middle grade series debut about friends, family, culture.

"Delightful and heartfelt.” — Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese

Sasan has middle school figured out: cool friends, decent grades, and enough of an allowance to hang out on the weekends. The only thing that seems to trip him up is balancing his mom's culture with his goal to be just like everyone else. When all the other boys start playing the latest video game, Sasan realizes his hold on fitting in is slipping right through his fingers. Determined to not stand out for the wrong reasons, Sasan goes to his mom. She's happy to help but she wants something in return: Sasan has to do the one thing he's been avoiding for years--learn Farsi.