Accidental Trouble Magnet: Book 1 (Planet Omar)

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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?!

En hoewel Omar zich afvraagt waar hij dan naar toe moet als alle moslims uit het land geschopt worden, en hier toch wel wat zorgen over heeft, is het ook duidelijk dat deze jongen trots is op zijn geloof. Want tussen de zorgen door vertelt Omar in al zijn enthousiasme over zijn thuisleven, tradities die voor zijn eigen familie heel normaal zijn. Over het suikerfeest, de mooiste moskee die hij ooit heeft gezien. En met die trots kun je zelfde de ergste toestanden overwinnen, zelfs een pestkop. This book opens up a cross curricular link to DT as quite frequently, Omar talks about the types of food that he eats which are native to his culture. As a class, children can find some of these recipes thatOmar has talked about and make them theirselves so children can experience food from different cultures and religions which they might not have tried otherwise.

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I really enjoyed reading this book as I feel like it is very educational as it explains quite a lot about the Islam religion which can be useful when teaching children about Islam. Especially as it tells the reader about the different prayers that they do everyday, tells the reader about Ramadan and why they do it and also about the two different Eid's that Muslims celebrate throughout the year. Also, this book can teach children how they can stand up to bullies and what should do if they are being bullied in school. This book has excellent illustrations that go alongside the text and they are illustrations that make you feel like you are inside Omar's head and following him through every emotion that he feels.

Patterns: The Muslim traditions, the imaginary dragon popping into his head when he is in trouble as it helps to keep him calm. Wat ik ook leuk vond aan het boek is dat Omar en zijn familie moslims zijn en we van alles leren over verschillende dingen in hun leven. Ik wist al een flink aantal dingen, maar ik heb ook wat nieuwe dingen geleerd. Ik moest wel lachen (net als Omar en zijn zus) hoe zijn moeder soms door het huis vloog omdat ze haar hoofddoek weer eens kwijt was en ze de deur open moest doen. We lezen ook over verschillende feesten, zoals het suikerfeest die ik wel eens heb gevierd met mijn basisschoolklas en ook met een vriendinnetje dat moslim(a) was. Planet Omar is told in the first person from Omar’s point of view. There’s a variety of text types and doodle images which are engaging for the reader whilst emphasising particular words or phrases as well as introducing personality and tone to the text.

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There’s a school trip to the science museum, which Omar’s parents are thrilled about! Except, Omar ends up in a group with Daniel, not Charlie. Whilst on the London Underground the pair lose the rest of their class. Which unexpectedly leads to Daniel bursting into tears and wetting himself. Omar takes charge and gets the pair to Baker Street where he ends up praying to Allah for help. As it happens the pair end up at a Mosque where they manage to get help. Daniel is so grateful. 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 liked the character of Omar and how we were given some information and an image of each character at the beginning of the book before the story began. This is because I was therefore able to create a more visual image throughout the story. As mentioned above, I also liked the way the story was presented and the fonts and images used to help understand the story. I liked the character of Daniel in the story and how the character changed throughout the book, giving reasons for his behaviour and treatment of others when him and Omar are lost. This really helped me to connect to the character and may be relatable to some children who may read the book. I also think that children would be able to relate to this story due to the age of Omar and his friends - it would be similar to children in key stage 2. 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. 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.

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”. Mrs Hutchinson is the best teacher in the universe. She’s the only reason Omar isn’t in a really bad mood about the start of the new school term. So imagine the trauma of finding a fierce, crinkly-faced supply teacher, with spiky heels and a personality to match, has replaced Mrs H at the front of the classroom. Wildly imaginative Omar’s free-association narrative, laced with expressive hand lettering and Mafaridik’s playfully exaggerated line art, remains chipper and uplifting.”– Publishers Weekly In dit boek vind je: een nieuwe school, een nare pestkop, een draak en een zombie, een suikerfeest (jippie) en cadeautjes (dubbeljippie) en heel veel toestanden…” Omar is hands down one of the best characters I've ever read and I love that I get to share his stories with my class. We laugh together at the funny bits, my Muslim children relate to things Omar shares about his religion and share their own stories, my non-Muslim children learn new information and respectfully ask questions, we all admire Omar's courage and kindness. He is such a positive and relatable role model for my students.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. Previously published as 'The Muslims', this was the winner of the Little Rebels Award in June 2018. The text has been revised, expanded with new scenes and re-illustrated. About This Edition ISBN: