Split - Muhammad Khan

A day can change everything in this exclusive short story from the award-winning author of I Am Thunder, written for World Book Day 2020.

Fifteen-year-old Salma Hashbi has been caught with her boyfriend in a totally humiliating misunderstanding. Instantly accused of being easy, she is shunned by everyone at school, shamed by her community and worst of all has disappointed her mum.

Enough is enough and Salma decides to fight back against the prejudice and rumours and audition for the role of her dreams.
But on the hottest day of the year, with everything against her, can Salma make it in time and show the world who she really is?

A powerful story of standing up and standing out from the Branford Boase Award-winning Muhammad Khan.

Muhammad Khan is an engineer, a secondary-school maths teacher, and a YA author!
He takes his inspiration from the children he teaches, as well as his own upbringing as a British-born Pakistani.
He lives in South London and has an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary's.
His debut novel I Am Thunder was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, won the Branford Boase First Novel Award, the 2018 Great Reads Award and a number of regional awards.
His second novel, Kick the Moon is also published by Macmillan Children's Books.

Funny and clever - a perspective long overdue in British fiction
Alex Wheatle,
Guardian prize-winning author of Crongton Knights on I Am Thunder

Fans of Skins and The Hate U Give will feel right at home here
Buzzfeed on I Am Thunder

Unprecedented and essential
Guardian on I Am Thunder

A powerful novel . . . Khan has created a book steeped in drama and empathy, as well as providing two iconic superheroes
Nikesh Shukla, author of Run Riot on Kick the Moon

Funny, angry, powerful
Patrice Lawrence, award-winning author of Orangeboy on Kick the Moon