In Zohaib Ahmed's novel, The Presently Past, historical figures are so realistically described, time and place so perfectly rendered, that one forgets the author is fourteen. Ahmed grabs us from the beginning, introducing young David, a boy suddenly moving through the centuries and meeting the likes of William Shakespeare, Caesar, and Cleopatra, and the all-powerful Genghis Khan. Directed by history's great world leaders, David becomes enmeshed with Hellenistic Greeks, kills one of the great leaders of all time, and musters his army of supporters to aid George Washington and fight Mussolini. With the help of his parents, David becomes the hope of the world for peace and harmony. But will this boy survive the evil around him and those villainous leaders who wish him dead? Page after page, young readers and adults will not only learn about the history of civilization, but will become part of a fast-paced, thrilling, and sometimes gritty novel that pits good against evil.