Description

What happens in Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet?

Accidental Trouble Magnet follows the everyday adventures of Omar. He tries to stay out of trouble, but sometimes it just finds him! After his parents move house, Omar starts at a new school and has to deal with making new friends, a school bully and a disastrous trip to the Science Museum. At least he has the Muslim festival of Eid to look forward to!

What can you see here?

• Chapters one and two from Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet. Omar has a huge imagination. What if his new teacher is a zombie, and will he make any friends?
  Before the story begins, Omar introduces himself and his family. Omar has drawn a sketch of each of them, with notes on their character. The book is full of Omar’s doodles and calligrams, which are words drawn to look like what they mean. They were created by illustrator Nasaya Mafaridik.
• Pages from a notebook used by author Zanib Mian when she was creating the characters for Planet Omar. We can see how she has created a backstory for Omar’s new friend Charlie, as well as Daniel, who bullies the two friends at the start of the book.
• Planet Omar was previously published as The Muslims with Zanib Mian’s own drawings. The final set of images show the front cover and her pencil doodles for some of the scenes and characters including ‘annoyed’ facial expressions, Charlie and Mrs Hutchinson, Daniel when he is sad and a mosque.

Who is Zanib Mian?

Zanib Mian's books have featured on BBC's Cbeebies Bedtime Stories and The Guardian for their contribution to diversity in children's literature. After studying molecular cell biology and working as a science teacher, she launched Sweet Apple Publishers with a clear commitment to publishing inclusive books, many of which she has authored herself.

The Muslims won the Little Rebels book prize in 2018. Judge Darren Chetty described it as, ‘A fantastic book full of humour and eccentricity’ that also ‘finds a way to explore racism and Islamophobia without allowing the characters to be defined by these things’.

Accidental Trouble Magnet is the first of three books in the Planet Omar series.