4.0 

The Best at It

By Maulik Pancholy
The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

From award-winning actor Maulik Pancholy comes a hilarious and heartfelt middle grade debut about a gay Indian American boy coming into his own. One of Time Out's “LGBTQ+ books for kids to read during Pride Month,” this is perfect for fans of Tim Federle’s Nate series. A Stonewall Honor Book!

Rahul Kapoor is heading into seventh grade in a small town in Indiana. The start of middle school is making him feel increasingly anxious, so his favorite person in the whole world, his grandfather, Bhai, gives him some well-meaning advice: Find one thing you’re really good at and become the BEST at it.

Those four little words sear themselves into Rahul’s brain. While he’s not quite sure what that special thing is, he is convinced that once he finds it, bullies like Brent Mason will stop torturing him at school. And he won’t be worried about staring too long at his classmate Justin Emery. With his best friend, Chelsea, by his side, Rahul is ready to crush this challenge.... But what if he discovers he isn’t the best at anything?

Funny, charming, and incredibly touching, this is a story about friendship, family, and the courage it takes to live your truth. 

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The Best at It Reviews

4.0
“This is a really sweet and, at times, gut-wrenching book, and I highly recommend everyone read it regardless of their age. I love Rahul as a character, and I love how nuanced this story is. It shows the complicated relationships we can have with the various aspects of ourselves and how our feelings about who and what we are can be affected by others' views, for good or for ill. Rahul's journey is one that is both specific to him as well as universal. Rahul is dealing with both internal and external conflicts regarding his culture and skin color, his sexuality, and his mental health, but all of us struggle at some point(s) to move past worrying about what the rest of the world thinks of us and to accept and love ourselves for who we are. All of us struggle to see our own inherent worth and to realize that the things that make us different from one another are just as beautiful as those things we share, more so even, because how boring would it be if everyone were the same? And pretty much all of us have to learn that none of us are alone and don't have to be, that we can rely on those who love us and whom we love for support and guidance as we deal with all the messiness of life. None of... *gestures expansively* <i>this</i> is easy, but finding people with whom we can share the load certainly helps. CW: bullying, homophobia (including internalized), racism/xenophobia (including internalized), mental illness (heavily implied OCD)”
“Rahul seems to be embarrassed to be nerdy, Indian and to be gay. He seems to think if he becomes the best at something that will somehow fix everything. It’s not till falling short in everything he tries and seeing a therapist for some major OCD tendencies, that he realizes it’s okay to be Indian, gay and nerdy. I like that this is one of the few gay young adult books where the main character doesn’t get into a relationship, but I wish, we’d get characters that aren’t so embarrassed. I know it’s great for youth to resonate and I know it can be hard to come out for many but I feel like we need more proud gay characters.”

About Maulik Pancholy

Maulik Pancholy is an award-winning actor whose career has spanned hit television shows (30 Rock, Whitney), animated favorites (Phineas and Ferb, Sanjay and Craig), the Broadway stage, and films. He served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and he is the cofounder of the anti-bullying campaign Act to Change. Maulik lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his husband, Ryan, and his dog, T-Rex. The Best at It is his debut novel.

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