In no particular order, here are five reasons to love this book:

1. A sympathetically geeky-but-sweet, Napoleon Dynamite-ish protagonist, Colin Singleton, who’s a prodigy, not a genius–NOT the same thing!

2. His best (and only, for most of his life) friend, Hassan (“I-am-not-a-terrorist!”), who’s sensitive about his man-boobs and trying really hard–ok, not so hard–to be a good Muslim, while effortlessly being a wonderful friend

3. The author’s footnotes. I adore these; they make me feel like I’m someone special the author is passing secret little notes to as I read his book.

4. Fantastic sentences, like … oops, I just realized I’ve returned my copy of the book to the library! So I can’t do a direct quote. You’ll just have to trust me on the sentences.

5. An honest-to-goodness, downright MORAL OF THE STORY. Actually, more like three morals. You have to read the book to the end to find out what they are, and then you can write and tell me what you think. They are all powerful, though.