Characters
Munza is our protagonist within I am Thunder. She is a wonderfully strong voice. She is relatable and inclusive, no matter the background of the reader.
It is powerful to know I’m one of the first people to connect with Munza and that, come January, all the Muslim and Pakistani girls I teach who have been reading Moxie will be reading this.
I love that even during the events, events that some might argue a weakness in character, she remains strong. She’s the preverbal frog within the slowly boiling pan.

Arif is an interesting and complex character. His charming exterior does disarm you along with Munza. I want to really like him, but he’s almost too good to be true.

I don’t think I could review without talking about Munza’s parents. It’s hard to blame them for what happens to Munza, especially as we only see them from her perspective. It’s clear they care for her, but Munza is frustrated by their perspective of the world and it’s certainly a problem many teens will relate with.

Plot
The plot is empowering and akin to the struggles many people face when it comes to religion. There was even echoes to the journey Malcolm X went through to discover the true meaning of Islam.
Munza is on a path to spiritual discovery. On the way, she questions the authority of people’s interpretations of the faith and how that makes one a true Muslim.
This is not a question unique to Islam, but it is a topical discourse that perhaps needs an answer.
It’s a brave look into terrorism and Islamaphobia with enough insight to make all people question what is going on in the world.

Writing
The writing is wonderfully colloquial. It also integrates Islam’s key phrases without isolating or patronising any potential audience.
The writing gives Munza a real voice; she’s the path to understanding what young Muslim’s go through in our mixed up world.

Well that was a rollercoaster. I was suspicious of Jameel almost at once, but couldn't tell about Arif until almost the end. I was cheering along with Muzna the whole way.
I loved the side characters, too. I could read a whole other book about them, even Sade!
I really hope that Muhammad Khan writes plenty more books. I'll be there to read them.
Thank you for the chance to read this.

This was a difficult book to read, and I'm sure even more difficult to write for Muhammad Khan, the English teacher and author from London. This is his debut novel, written in the wake of the schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join ISIS. Muzna is a fifteen year old Muslim girl who deals with a multitude of problems, from her overbearing Pakistani parents who want her to be a doctor, to bullying at school for being Muslim. When she meets Arif at her new school she can't believe this good looking Muslim boy wants to be her friend and she struggles with his devout older brother who instantly dislikes her for not wearing the hijab. I Am a Thunder captures the feelings of being a second generation immigrant to this country as well as the dangers of radicalisation deftly and thoughtfully, and it's a heartbreaking story, more so because of the elements of truth to it.