Kick the Moon

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Years later, Illyas faces the perils of being in a leading gang, the conflict between what is expected of him and what he should do, what’s right by him and his family and that of DedManz. Illyas was a bit of a sad sack, getting bullied by his “friends, disappointing his dad, and trying to follow his dreams. I truly felt for the main protagonist, Ilyas, and absolutely loved witnessing his journey of finding out who he was. There is so much more I want to say but I don’t want to spoil anyone so I will just say this, this book deals with really heavy topics but it is also fun and uplifting and that representation is so important and I want more and I’m sure many others do as well!

The streets turn out to be a battlefield with blood gushing, heads bashing and bones breaking, but the gruesome fight nonetheless becomes history in the making. It may seem unbelievable but it’s actually quite common for boys like him to have much power in his circle and no one believes anything terrible about him. It tackles bullying - both physical, sexual and mental - the realisation that your parents are people too and that following your dreams instead of the pack are the way to ultimate happiness. Although they come from completely different backgrounds they manage to bond over their mutual love of stories and realise maybe they have more in common than they think. But 'Kick The Moon' is about more than that: it allows that sometimes the self you find isn't always that great.It feels like a real school, the language of the students could be that heard in any secondary school corridor. Inclusivity is about celebrating both our differences and our similarities and saying it’s OK to be different and it doesn’t make you less of a person. They feel glad about their unexpected reunion, but the mood gets tense as they rekindle old yet not-so-fond memories. The novel was a fairly easy read from start to finish yet, at the same time, the language – which is majority slang – was exhausting. Ilyas’s story is one that will shred you to pieces from when he’s spiralling out of control to when someone(s) start to believe in him.

Ilyas finds his tribe, but not in a tribalistic sense - he finds those who are positive, supportive and who have the same verve for life that deep down he has always had. 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.The teenage characters discussed these issues in a thoughtful and intelligent manner which felt realistic of characters their age. It's pretty rare to see books nowadays where a boy and girl can just be FRIENDS, and it was a really beautiful friendship that I really rooted for! Although I suppose it could be that we’re only seeing Ilyas’ perspective and behind the scenes Ms Mughal could’ve been doing referrals left right and centre for all we know. In this type of story, usually both parents are unreasonable, but the mother was fine and understanding.

Ilyas Mian, a British-Pakistani teenager loved superheroes when he was a kid, he loved Superman, he went all out on World Book Day to be him and he knew it was the best costume, but his class mates had other ideas, that being black you can’t be superman and since that day, his dreams were torn away. Stereotyping and dialogue was the main issue for me in his debut and that really continues into Kick The Moon.These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. From Superman to PakCore and Big Bad Waf, Ilyas’ passion for creating comics and his fight to make brown superheroes the norm was an aspect I really enjoyed.

Definitely a more mature piece than Attack the Gas Station, with potential to surpass it, but ATGS hangs together better and never loses its high.Kelly was probably my favourite character as she was so outspoken in her views and yet was also willing to listen to those with experiences different to hers and understand their viewpoint. Patrice Lawrence, award-winning author of OrangeBoy A powerful novel that encapsulates the experiences of teenage boys with wit and heroism .