Look for Omar’s other adventures!

  PLANET OMAR: Accidental Trouble Magnet

  PLANET OMAR: Unexpected Super Spy

  PLANET OMAR: Incredible Rescue Mission

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

  First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnam’s Sons,

  an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022

  Text copyright © 2021 by Zanib Mian

  Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Kyan Cheng

  First published in Great Britain by Hodder and Stoughton, 2021

  First American edition, 2022

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us online at penguinrandomhouse.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Mian, Zanib, author. | Cheng, Kyan, illustrator.

  Title: Epic hero flop / Zanib Mian ; illustrated by Kyan Cheng.

  Description: First American edition. | New York : G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022. |

  Series: Planet Omar ; book 4 | Summary: “When Omar takes the blame for a few small things to keep his friends out of trouble, he feels great—until something big happens and everyone thinks Omar did it”—Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2021059835 (print) | LCCN 2021059836 (ebook) |

  ISBN 9780593407172 (hardback) | ISBN 9780593407189 (epub)

  Subjects: CYAC: Humorous stories. | Muslims—Fiction. | Schools—Fiction. |

  Friendship—Fiction. | LCGFT: Humorous fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M514 Ep 2022 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.M514 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059835

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059836

  Ebook ISBN 9780593407189

  Cover art © 2022 by Kyan Cheng

  Cover design by Tony Sahara

  Interior design by Tony Sahara, adapted for ebook by Michelle Quintero

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  pid_prh_6.0_140193378_c0_r0

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Look for Omar’s other adventures!

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  About the Author and Illustrator

  For all the children who remain their best selves through life’s ups and downs.

  CHAPTER 1

  The sound broke through the pin-drop silence of the classroom. It was the sound that was the start of the

  We were having a computer lesson, and my best friend Daniel couldn’t wait to show me the new crazy video he had been talking about, of a lion being friends with a human and saving her from an attack by a hyena. I had said he could just email me the link and I would watch it at home, because I knew that our computer teacher, Mr. Philpot, would go absolutely if he saw us.

  But Daniel said, “No way. I can’t live through the day without showing you. It’s only one minute long anyway.” And he hit the PLAY button with the sort of look on his face that my little brother, Esa, has when he’s farted and he’s waiting for everyone to smell it.

  But it was the idea possible, because:

  We are not allowed to watch videos in class.

  We forgot to plug in our headphones, so heard it.

  The volume was on

  Ellie even screamed and jumped out of her seat before she figured out it was just a video. I guess she thought a real lion had somehow come through the door.

  Our other best friend, Charlie, was staring at us from across the room, where he was working with his partner, Adam.

  Mr. Philpot was scanning the few computers around us to make up his mind who to shout at.

  You haven’t met Mr. Philpot before, so I will tell you about him. Remember Mrs. Crankshaw, the substitute teacher we once had instead of our lovely usual teacher, Mrs. Hutchinson? The really mean one? Well . . . Mr. Philpot made her look like a baby lamb wrapped in cotton candy with a drizzle of extra-nice sprinkles on top.

  When Mr. Philpot shouted, you could hear him from the other side of the school building. And even if he wasn’t shouting at you, you would still

  The good thing was that it only happened every so often, not all the time. I guess some things really made him blow his top, and other things didn’t so much. We hadn’t figured out what they were yet, but Charlie was on it. Because Charlie likes math so much, he sees patterns and common factors in everything, and he said, “There must be a common factor in all the times Mr. Philpot has exploded. We just have to figure out what it is so we

  But with the video, I thought we might have done it. I looked at Daniel and saw the horror in his eyes as Mr. Philpot took big fat steps toward us. Daniel used to be a mega-bullying­ but those days are behind him. He hasn’t been in trouble for a long, long time, and I know how happy that makes him. But now he would end up back in the principal’s office like he used to be ALL the time before we were friends.

  I saw a tear trickle down his cheek as he put his hands on his ears to prepare for Mr. Philpot’s storm, and I knew I had to do something . . .

  CHAPTER 2

  I looked at Mr. Philpot, who was wearing his usual shorts with sandals. He had knobby knees, and something about them made me imagine him as an covered in poisonous warts. This ogre was about to eat my friend.

  I stood up really fast. My legs felt all but I found the courage to say,

  My hand went up to make super sure Mr. Philpot knew who to blame.

  “You??” he said. He said it like he didn’t believe it.

  “Yes, me, sir. I did it; you can shout at me in my face, if you want.”

  That made somebody at the back giggle, but they quickly stopped when Mr. Philpot turned his poisonous warts toward them.

  That means around sixty eyeballs in total.

  I could see Daniel from the corner of my eye. His hands had moved from his ears to his mouth, covering his shock at what I was doing.

  Mr. Philpot didn’t shout. Instead, he said, “Can I see you outside, please?”

  So I followed him as he walked toward the door. I turned around to look at Daniel, who looked relieved, scared and super confused all at the same time.

  When we were outside the classroom, Mr. Philpot said, “Now, young man, what has gotten into you? What a ridiculous fuss you’ve caused! This isn’t like you at all.”

  “I know, sir. I’m sorry. It was sort of an accident, I guess. I was trying to catch my , which had taken off into the air as if by magic, and . . .” I babbled on, trying to imagine ways a video could be played by accident.

  “OK. OK. Well, don’t do it again, please, Omar. You’re a good kid.”

  And that’s it! I was let off the hook. No principal’s office, no earth-shattering shouting, no anything at all.

  With a wide smile of relief, I walked back to my seat next to Daniel, who could still be Daniel-the-kid-who-used-to-be-a-troublemaker-but-is-now-a-totally-awesome-well-behaved-kid instead of Daniel-the-naughty-kid-who-has-gone-back-to-his-bad-ways. That made me feel I had helped my friend and everything had turned out great.

  When it was time for recess, the first thing Charlie said to me was,

  Daniel said, “I can’t believe you took the blame for me! It was so crazy! I always knew you were cool, but I never thought I would ever have a friend that cared so much he would get in TROUBLE for me.”

  OK, now I felt awkward and shy because Daniel and Charlie were making it a big superhero deal. So I did a handstand to distract them. I had been practicing at home and had only broken one lamp in my mission to get really good (and the telling-off I had gotten from Dad was totally worth it).

  It worked. Charlie and Daniel started clapping and trying to do their own ­ which they weren’t quite managing just yet.

  Soon other kids from our class were coming up to me to ask what happened. And when they found out it wasn’t re ally me who had played the lion video, but that I’d taken the blame so Daniel wouldn’t get into trouble, they all looked at me as if I had burped a rainbow or something.

  For the rest of the day, I got

  from all the kids in the class. The best things were:

  Sarah let me cut in front of her in the lunch line.

  Jayden gave me his Pokémon pencil.

  And Adam even asked if I wanted to play soccer with him, which he has never done in the history of my feet stepping into this school.

  CHAPTER 3

  Back at home, I didn’t mention what had happened at school to Maryam, my annoying big sister, but because she knows me so well, she noticed something was different.

  “What’s up with you? Why are you taller or happier or something weird like that?”

  “I’m not,” I said. My secret was grinning through my eyes, even though my lips were straight.

  “You probably answered some science question right at school and now you’re showing off!” she said, walking away to show she didn’t care anyway.

  Maryam hates that I like science like my mom and dad, who are scientists, because she’s not interested in it and always messes up on (which is when our whole family does fun experiments at home in the kitchen).

  I was putting all my school stuff away in the bedroom I share with my little brother when I heard wailing from down the hall. Esa was clearly not in a good mood. He was doing that thing where he cries and talks at the same time, so it comes out all squeaky and high-pitched.

  I went to see what he was mad about this time, and it was because Mom had flushed the toilet when he was finished, but HE had wanted to flush it.

  he was crying. “I wanted to flush them! Bring them back!”

  Mom looked a bit tired. Maybe she needed one of her energy balls. She makes them out of dates and nuts, which is boring. So when I eat them, I imagine that they have more fun ingredients, like the milk of a winged horse and a drop of honey made by bees that live underwater in a lake called

  That makes me feel extra strong when I’ve eaten one. Imagination makes everything more exciting.

  “Do you need an energy ball?” I asked Mom, who looked like she was trying very hard to calm Esa down by explaining that once the poos are gone, they are gone.

  “Yes, please!” she said.

  So I went to get her one, and as I put the hard brown ball on a plate, I tried NOT to think about how it sort of looked like poo. Imagining food as poo is something I would get seriously told off for if Mom knew. So I thanked Allah she couldn’t hear my thoughts, put the plate on Mom’s favorite tray (it’s pink and flowery) and took it upstairs.

  Mom was so pleased with me, she gave me a great big hug. “Sometimes you do the exact right thing at the exact right moment, Omar. Thank you!”

  I love Mom’s hugs, even though I never let her hug me in front of my friends.

  I did something nice for someone again, but it made ME feel just as good as it made Mom feel. That’s funny, right?

  I went back to my room to go and play with the I had coded with Dad, when I saw something out of place—a deck of cards that was signed by an astronaut Dad met years ago at a science conference. (He thought I’d like a present signed by an astronaut, and the only thing he had in his pocket was a pack of cards. Don’t ask why. Dad always has things you’d never ever guess.)

  And now the cards were sitting by my robot. So weird!

  I was sure this was Maryam getting me back for running down the stairs screaming the other day, pretending there was a mouse in her room just for fun. So I went straight to her room and asked, “Hey, Maryam, did you move my cards?”

  “No! Did you even see me go to your stinky room?!” she said.

  “No . . .” I said.

  And she was right. I hadn’t seen her anywhere near my room since we had gotten back from school.

  CHAPTER 4

  The next day, as I walked to school, I wondered if Mr. Philpot had told Mrs. Hutchinson about the lion video. I know that teachers gossip a lot behind the doors of the mysterious staff room, but I had learned my lesson about eavesdropping on them from the time I misheard some gossip and thought that my teacher had been taken by

  Anyway, I was really hoping he hadn’t said anything, because I really like Mrs. Hutchinson, and I wouldn’t want her to think I did anything

  As I walked in, she smiled her usual smile at me and winked her usual wink, which made me think, she doesn’t know. But the most important clue of all was that her hair waved its usual hello. It wasn’t her disappointed hair. I know exactly what her disappointed hair looks like, because I saw it last week when Ellie forgot to feed the class goldfish when it was her turn.

  Charlie had his worried eyebrows on. They were scrunching down and close together. I tapped them to make them go back to normal eyebrows, but they wouldn’t.

  “What is it, Charlie? Who did it?” asked Daniel. Daniel still sometimes thinks that the reason for all problems happening is someone else being mean.

  “Nobody did it . . . It’s my grandma. She’s really sick,” said sad Charlie.

  “Is she going to die?” asked Daniel.

  I whacked him on the arm.

  “What?” he said.

  But it was too late, because Charlie was already sobbing, and hot tears were trickling down his face.

  Mrs. Hutchinson was at his side in She took him outside to have a chat, and we all sat down to read our books, wondering what she was saying to him.

  When Charlie came back, his worried eyebrows were gone, but his toothy grin still wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Daniel and I made our minds up to bring it back by lunchtime.

  Our task for the morning was to learn about mindfulness and what we do to be mindful. And the reason was that a fancy team from a fancy TV studio were coming to make a news report about it, and they were going to interview kids and teachers at our school.

  “I’ve never been on TV before!” whispered Daniel, super excited. “But I don’t know what is.”

  Mrs. Hutchinson was asking the class what we thought it was. “Hands up if you can tell me.”

  Daniel shot his hand up even though he had just told me a second ago he had no clue.

  “It’s when you make your mind full! Like, just think of as many things at the same time that you can; think about your sick grandma and your homework and why Ellie said your breath smelled last Tuesday and how nice Mrs. Hutchinson’s hair is. Everything! Mind full.” He finally stopped, extra proud of himself.

  I wasn’t sure what mindfulness was, but I was sure it wasn’t that.

  Ellie and Sarah burst out laughing and started whispering to each other and laughing even more.

  Daniel had turned jelly-bean red. And I could tell something terrible was going to erupt from his trembling lips, so I quickly said,

  It was a lie, of course, but I thought it was a good lie, because I could see he felt better right away.

  “Exactly! It’s what it sounds like,” Daniel added.

  Mrs. Hutchinson said, “Don’t be so rude, girls.” Then she said to Daniel, “Thank you for trying to make sense of the word, Daniel. I’m always very impressed that you’re never afraid to try.”

  Now Daniel flamingo pink and completely forgot about Ellie and Sarah.

  Mrs. Hutchinson explained that mindfulness was actually the activity of noticing what is happening in the moment you are in now, to help you focus or feel better about something. It could be counting your breaths or watching how the wind rustles the leaves in the trees.

  I wondered if she had done something to do with mindfulness with Charlie when she had talked to him outside.

 

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