Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
An exciting middle-grade debut starring a Muslim boy with a huge imagination. An NPR Best Book of the Year.
Welcome to the imaginative brain of Omar!
Omar and his family have just moved, and he is NOT excited about starting at a new school. What if the work is too hard or the kids are mean or the teacher is a zombie alien?!
But when Omar makes a new best friend, things start looking up. That is, until a Big Mean Bully named Daniel makes every day a nightmare! Daniel even tells Omar that all Muslims are going to be kicked out of the country . . . Could that possibly be true?
Luckily, Omar's enormous imagination and goofy family help him get through life's ups and downs.
Omar's funny, relatable narrative is the perfect answer to the call for both mirrors and windows to fill bookshelves with diverse stories.
-An NPR Best Book of the Year
-USBBY Outstanding International Book Selection
-2020 Global Read Aloud Selection
-Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
-Middle East Book Award Nominee
-New York Public Library Best Book of the Year (top 10)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally released in the U.K. as The Muslims, Mian's middle grade debut features some stock elements: after his family moves, Omar fears he won't make friends at his new school and that his teacher will be a space alien, is vexed that he's targeted by bully Daniel, and gets frustrated that his teenage sister has become a "snitch." In Omar's daily life and close-knit Muslim family, religion plays a focal role. His narrative incidentally relays with readers and with his new friend, Charlie the prayers his family says daily; fasting, feasting, and other rituals of Ramadan; and his scientist mother's commitment to wearing hijab. Mian also credibly integrates Omar's hurtful experiences with prejudice, as when Daniel tells the boy that "the worst thing about you" is "You're Muslim.... You better go back to your country before we kick you all out" (Daniel adjusts his attitude and Omar learns the genesis of Daniel's bitterness). Yet the dominant tone of wildly imaginative Omar's free-association narrative, laced with expressive hand lettering and Mafaridik's playfully exaggerated line art, remains chipper and uplifting. Ages 8 12.