This may be a "YA" novel with a teen boy as the main protagonist but I think this middle aged Mum has proved it has a far more universal appeal!

Just to be shortlisted among such a talented bunch of authors with incredible debut novels was exciting enough. Not only his writing but the feelings you have for the characters runs deep, their own voices coming through the pages, like Ilyas’s Amma, who really reminds me of my own mum and one particular character I simply admired was Ms Mungal – what an inspiration to her students, everyone needs like a teacher like to believe in you and to get you to express yourself. The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. Nifty intertextual reference to the author's first book also appears in one of the chapters (Muzna Saleem anyone? I loved the multi-cultural array of characters, including the nasty mean boys and mean girls and the struggle of wanting to be accepted versus being yourself.

Sharing the experience of bringing I am Thunder to publication with Lucy Pearse has been an unforgettable privilege. There were a few things that should have gotten more attention, the novel felt somewhat rushed but also at times a little too slow. Some might dismiss stories such as this as encouraging sentimental slush about finding yourself and then being true to self. I have always wanted to see a superhero who looked like me and I was so happy to see that in this book!

There's a sweet acknowledgement to Muzna from I am Thunder, Khan's debut novel, which bonded both books in the present time. His father wants him to work in the family business but his maths teacher encourages him to pursue his dreams. the graphic novel storyline was great but i think it could have developed more, the family at the centre of the story were well written and that dynamic interested me. A rich tapestry of characters makes the story hugely multi-dimensional, making for a very believable read.So firstly lets say that I'm probably not the target audience for this book but my oh my does it ever give an insight into the life of a school age teenager these days.