"The Cookie Culprit" by Zanib Mian is a delightful and heartwarming children's book that tickles the taste buds of curiosity and creativity. Mian's storytelling is rich with imagination and playfulness, engaging young readers in an enchanting tale of friendship and adventure. As the characters embark on a quest to discover the identity of the elusive cookie thief, they also uncover valuable life lessons. With vibrant illustrations and relatable characters, "The Cookie Culprit" is a scrumptious read that blends humor and heart, making it an absolute treat for kids and parents alike.

Planet Omar bestselling series author, Zanib Mian, is back with a brand new cast of characters! Meet twins, Maysa and Musa Malik and their neighbour and friend, Norman. Maysa and Musa are muslims who live a religious life with their parents. It’s Ramadan, and there are prayers and rules around fasting that they are learning about - and especially looking forward to Eid. They regularly attend the madrassah at their mosque, where they learn and have fun with other muslim children within their community. There’s a school residential trip coming up, it’s going to be AMAZING! Maysa can’t wait! However, although Maysa is funny and kinda quirky, you have to know that she does put her foot in it quite regularly, and ends up in all sort of trouble. There’s no way her parents are going to let her go on it! Oh the shame! This is the catalyst of a spiral of events that end up with the Imam believing the her father has a huge gambling addition and that the family are broke, her classmates start to bring her food because they think she must be starving, and there’s more. All the while Maysa has to continually navigate her increasingly impossible web of lies, she, Musa and Norman have a very important mystery to solve… WHO DESTROYED ALL THE COOKIES!? The Madrassah cookie competition had produced some absolutely stunning creations from the children - from dinosaurs to unicorns to colourful houses and more. It’s time for some super-sleuthing… This is a super fun story with relatable inter-family relationships, educational in part for those not familiar with muslim prayer routines and terminology (which is helpfully explained throughout the book), lots to laugh about and a whodunit that keeps you guessing right until the end. Well-spaced text and copious doodles by illustrator Kyan Cheng keep more reluctant readers engaged. I wonder what the twins will get up to in book 2! ‘Meet the Maliks - Twin Detectives: Race to the Rescue’ is out 1st February 2024

Myself and my daughter have enjoyed reading and listening to the Planet Omar series by the same author so when I saw a new series was being written we were naturally intrigued.

Maysa and Musa are twins, but very different! Musa is good but no matter how hard Maysa tries, she just isn’t like her twin. We loved the story and the gentle teachings of the consequences of our actions. As with previous books, the subject of Islam is mentioned and referred to in a subtle yet informative way, my daughter loves learning new facts about characters very different yet very similar to her.

Again this has brilliant illustrations and changes in the fonts, we love looking at all the details they add to the story.

Wholeheartedly recommend this book and any of Zanib Mian’s previous stories.

Once again Zanib Mian doesn’t disappoint with another of her books featuring Muslim children. My boys and I loved following the story of Omar in the books Planet Omar and now we get to do it all again with the Malik twins. Musa the good child and Maysa who just seems to get into trouble even without trying. The book was a fantastic read which teaches children what happens when you spread rumours and how it can affect others. It also covered Islam in a gentle way and loved the addition of Norman joining the family for Iftar during Ramadan. The cookie thief had me stumped in who it could be, I was amazed Maysa figured it out.
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This was loads of fun! What happens when you unintentionally spread rumours about your family, your unicorn cookie creation is destroyed and you need to learn to be all the -ibles?! Well, Maysa learns the hard way that mistakes happen and that we need to do something about it! This is full of learning about how Muslims pray, Ramadan and Eid too! Plus some gorgeous illustrations!