Accidental Trouble Magnet: Book 1 (Planet Omar)

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As an adult, it has highlighted how much more there is to learn about all the wonderful people on this earth. Planet Omar has taught me some of the key traditions in Islam and inspired me to research further. En heel veel toestanden, dat is zeker! Planeet Omar is een boek voor kinderen van een jaar of 7 met een uitbundige typografie en lekker veel verbeelding. Ik zal niet zeggen dat er wat uit mijn neus spoot, maar hard lachen deed ik zeker. The book provides a good base to continue to explore religious festivals in Islam, for example Eid, during religious education lessons. It is one of the few books I have read which explored religion in this way, but I really enjoyed how the author used it throughout the story, to make connections. Being treated like a hero feels great, so he does it again. But then something more serious happens, and all eyes land on Omar. Uh-oh.

None of the other teachers will say where she is so Omar and his friends, Daniel and Charlie, decide they have to investigate. As they collect their evidence, everything seems to point to one unlikely conclusion: Mrs Hutchinson has been abducted by aliens!

About Zanib Mian

I am impressed by the fact that it’s a diverse book written by someone of another religion and different beliefs to me. Yet it’s so lighthearted and fun for children. In fact, as I was researching the author, I discovered that the main book series of “Planet Omar” and other books have featured in The Guardian and BBCs CBeebies Bedtime Stories for their contribution to diversity in children’s literature. What an extraordinary shift in modern society and literature. In this story, Omar and his best friends Daniel and Charlie are on a mission to get a book signed by famous author, Angelina Kind. (Even just finding out the reason they want to get a signed copy was enough to make my eyes watery. I can't make it through one of these books without crying!) The adventure they go on is filled with unexpected challenges, which test them all in different ways. I loved following their journey and I felt their pain every time another thing went wrong. The way the story ended was brilliant and linked very cleverly to everything leading up to it. The whole story was a rush of heartwarming emotions, followed by feeling sorry for a character, indispersed with lots of laughter and I loved it! Use the example where Omar’s feeling frightened, nervous, or worried. The class teacher will encourage the children to write a diary entry to express the feelings of Omar’s imaginative world with the dragon (H20) helping him to overcome these feelings. The children could think about why the dragon is important to Omar and how it supports his thoughts and feelings

Investigate other chapter books with sketchy pictures, such as Planet Omar Adventure and Horrid Henry books. Think about the similarities and differences between the books are the themes the same. Planet Omar can link to stories about friendship and overcoming bullies, such as Cloud Busting. There is also links to books about acceptance of others such as Skellig by David Almond, Beegu by Alexis Deacon and Welcome to Our World by Moira Butterfield. There is also a link to The Twits by Ronald Dahl as Omar believes that people with ugly thoughts are ugly people and that appearance isn’t the key to being a good person. Ronald Dahl writes “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely”. Almost everyone gets bullied at some point in their life–so if this is happening to your child, they are not alone. Welkom in de fantastische gedachten van Omar! Je kent me misschien nog niet, maar als je dit boek opendoet moet je zo hard lachen dat het snot uit je neus spuit.

Planet Omar: Operation Kind

Planet Omar discusses issues such as bullying and prejudices and the impacts of these. This type of bullying can make others think negative of themselves even when they've done nothing wrong. It can affect the way people think about themselves and make them feel ashamed of who they are. Every person is unique and we should celebrate differences as it makes the world we live in an interesting and inspirational place. Anyone who is different shouldn't be excluded from anything, whether it's a game, a school or anything for that matter. In the story Omar and his family overcome these negative emotions by educating others about their religion and beliefs. I really liked this book as it felt unique compared to other children's books I have read. This was in terms of it being informally written, being in 1st person and the use of different texts and fonts to reflect the characters feelings. The text and font also highlighted words that needed more emphasis and exaggeration. I also liked the fact that this book promotes diversity about a Muslim boy and is family but is also very informative about their religion and traditions. Therefore, I think this would be a great book to teach children about this religion in the classroom as it is a fun read and there are parts in the story that explain the relgion in very simplistic ways in an informal manner for children to understand. The first and most obvious teaching point comes from the approach to different religions, in this case the characters were Muslim. Mian has included facts about this religion, such as the names for each prayer of the day, which will allow the children to learn about Muslims beliefs and traditions whilst reading. This would be a great teaching opportunity, to get the children to learn about different religions and appreciate the differences between people. This book follows a young Muslim boy called Omar. Him and his family have just moved house as his mum has just gotten her dream job. As a result of this, he has to start a new school and this made him very nervous as he thought his new teacher might be an alien. As you read this book, you follow the everyday life of Omar and you also go through the struggles that he is encountering at school, specifically with a young boy called Daniel. However, later on in the book when Omar and Daniel get lost, they forget all of their differences and join together to try and find the rest of their class.

Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home > In their debut, Mian and Mafaridik create a relatable and hilarious story . . . Exploding with personality and imagination, Omar is an easy character to love.”— Booklist, starred review I think most children would be able to make some connection with this book from their home life, as it talks about the use of modern technology, Xbox and iPhones, which most children have heard about. I think this book would be good for children in upper KS2 and could help them and understand the transition between schools and it may help them feel less nervous about their transition to secondary school. Welcome to the imaginative brain of Omar! You might not know me yet,but once you open this book you’ll laugh so hard that snot will come out of your nose.*This book also approaches issues such as bullying and prejudice as well as true friendship and forgiveness. These themes would be great PSHE topics to discuss with the children, relating to the book as well as personal experiences. Young readers will have great fun on planet Omar! Our hero's tales of everyday life with his family and at school will keep everyone amused. Omar is worried because the family have just moved house - will he make friends at school? He does of course, but Daniel the school bully seems to have it in for him. A school trip to the Science Museum sees the two of them lost in London, but Omar knows just what to do and in the process realises that maybe he'd got Daniel wrong. The real pleasure of this book is Omar - his imagination, the pleasure he finds in ordinary things, his infectious zest for life make this irresistible reading. The book also offers insight into the life of an ordinary Muslim family, something we don't often get, and indeed, Zanib Mian has said that she wrote the book to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims. It's another reason to recommend this book, and I'm already looking forward to a new story and a return to Planet Omar. Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian is a hilariously fun storybook for KS2 children. I like the themes in the book and I enjoyed exploring Omar’s positive thoughts to help him understand that he is different. I liked the different fonts and pictures in the book. This will encourage children to read the book and challenge themselves to identify what the images represent. Ik was eerst een beetje onzeker of ik dit boek moest meenemen uit de bibliotheek, maar ik ben uiteindelijk heel blij dat ik het heb gedaan. Want dit was een grappig maar ook heel interessant boek.