Hi there.
My name's Zanib Mian.
I'm the author of the Planet Omar series of books.
And today, for the British Library's project,
I've put together a book of my own,
which I've illustrated and written out,
and put onto this card to form a book,
and it's called Munchkin Planet,
and I wanted to share that with you today.
My name is Zanib.
I wear a lot of black and pointy shoes.
I used to think it might look a bit witchy,
until a friend told me that angels come in black too.
Plus I always wear a smile,
and I don't think witches like smiling, do they?
I laugh a lot, and it's usually at something silly,
like the time my dad called my son a chicky nuggy.
I also get lost in my own world a lot,
because I love imagining stories and interesting characters.
One day, I drove my car so fast
that with an unexpected flash,
it turned into a big, beautiful, friendly dragon.
We ended up somewhere that isn't the world
that you and I live in.
It was a world that smelled of cinnamon.
And if you stuck your tongue out, you could taste it too.
I've always wanted a dragon to fly around on,
but I thought I'd better figure out
how to get back to my own world before my kids miss me.
So I went up to a funny looking creature,
but I soon found out that in this world,
I was the funny looking one.
Gosh, you're strange looking.
Why are you so tall,
and not even covered in fluff like normal munchkins?
And what is that?
I'm not a munchkin, I told him, I'm a human.
I'm not from this world, and this is my dragon.
What sort of world are you from?
The munchkin was curious.
He was all eyes and fluff.
If he had arms and legs, I couldn't see them.
And if he was smiling or frowning, I couldn't tell,
because I couldn't see his mouth.
I looked around, all the munchkins were the same,
blue, fluffy ball-like things.
I could see, they had special powers too,
because they were making all sorts
of stuff happen as if by magic.
I'm from a world where everyone is different,
and nobody has powers.
That sounds rather nice, he said.
It's boring everyone being the same.
I keep mistaking my mother for the post munchkin.
It is nice actually,
but we don't always make the most of it.
Sometimes we can be downright mean to each other, I said.
Well, do you want to go back, he asked.
I said, yes, please, and gave him a warm smile.
What is that you're doing?
The munchkin bounced back a step.
I'm smiling, I said.
Well, it's making me all warm and fuzzy inside.
Stop it.
I've never seen one of those before.
It's giving me funny, happy ideas.
I giggled.
I guess we humans do have powers too.
I like it very much, said the munchkin,
and I can send you home.
But first, there's something your world
has inspired me to do.
And with that, there was a sudden
powerful burst of cinnamon,
and all the munchkins had turned into
different colors and shapes.
Wow, now they're like us, different on the outside,
but all the same underneath, I said.
The munchkin sprouted a long skinny arm,
and brushed some of his fluff aside, so I could see.
Am I smiling, he asked.
Yes, and you've made me all warm and fuzzy inside, I said.
I jumped onto my dragon,
as the munchkin created another puff of cinnamon,
and sent us back.
I was so sad to leave the world of munchkins,
but I found a new love for my world
and all the humans in it.
I hope you enjoyed that story,
and I hope you enjoy making your own books as well.