What I remember, though, is that while I related to those characters, I never saw any who looked like me. I had all these book sets: The Hobbit, The Black Stallion, even Little House on the Prairie. You’ve talked in interviews about being an avid reader as a child. For me, winning those competitions was a way to prove my self-worth, which then became a huge theme in the book. We traveled to international math competitions in other countries. A teacher who I’m still friends with ran the math club, which was a big deal at our school. I was also a Mathlete so math competitions were a big part of my junior high and high school experience. Did you enjoy school, and were you also a math whiz? Your main character, Rahul, is extremely good at math. It’s one of the reasons a small, Midwest town felt right for this book. That was a long time ago, but in a lot of smaller towns in America and in the Midwest, I think that’s probably still true and still a challenging situation for kids. At the time that I was growing up, no one was talking about being gay. But even there, in a much bigger city than Wabash, I still had a sense of being different. I eventually moved to Tampa, Fla., where I spent my middle and high school years. Those years were magical-full of riding bikes in the neighborhood and leaving doors unlocked and walking to school. When I about two years old, we moved to Wabash, Ind., and lived there until I was about seven. Tell us a little bit about yourself as a kid.

Maulik pancholy the best at it