Nadia Islam, on the Record – at a glance
The School Reading Lists’ five word review: Family, friends, climate change, Ramadan.
Children’s book title: Nadia Islam, on the Record.
Children’s author: Adiba Jaigirdar.
Cover illustration: Sian James
Genre: Children’s fiction.
Published by: Hodder Children’s.
ISBN: 9781444973471.
Recommended for children aged: 9-11.
First published: Paperback January 2026.
This children’s book is ideal for: confident readers in the suggested age range and those interested in environmental issues. It could also be used to complement the teaching of Ramadan in RE.
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Our review:
Nadia Islam is eight years old, and wants to be a journalist when she grows up. She was looking forward to spending the holidays with her best friend, Yasmin, and celebrating Ramadan with her. Those plans changed when her family decided they would be spending their holiday in Bangladesh, including the whole of Ramadan!
She is looking forward to spending time with her cousins and her khalamoni (maternal aunt), who is an actual journalist! Nadia jumps at the chance to accompany her on research trips for a story she is researching about climate change in Bangladesh, especially the after-effects of the devastating floods on the lives of those displaced and left in poverty by this all too common occurrence.
At the same time, Nadia is about to participate in her first Ramadan, something she is very excited about, but her cousins think she is still a baby and convince her to take part in their Ramadan race, with the winner being the one who completes the most fasts. Nadia is very competitive and determined to come first, even if that means pranking her cousins and brother into breaking their fasts early and lying to her Ammu (mother)!
Taking part in Ramadan is quite hard, especially the first time, but surely she can work with her khalamoni on the climate change article as well as completing the most fasts, especially if she can keep the race a secret and make her cousins miss a few fasts over the month! But observing Ramadan isn’t supposed to be easy, or a race, and Nadia could find herself in a lot of trouble before they celebrate Eid al-Fitr!
Our verdict:
Nadia Islam, on the Record is a very informative book about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the serious climate change problems suffered by the inhabitants of Bangladesh. By looking at everything through the eyes of an eight-year-old experiencing everything for the first time, the author immediately draws the reader in.
Nadia’s life in America gets just enough coverage to show how her everyday life is so different to that of her cousins. The information included could easily be used as part of research projects on Ramadan, climate change and/or the differences in lifestyle on these two continents.
Teaching points and book club discussion ideas:
- Nadia had made all sorts of plans for the holidays with her best friend. How would you feel if you had to change everything and go somewhere you’d never been before?
- Nadia’s khalamoni told her things about climate change she hadn’t studied in school. Did you know about the devastating floods and displacement of Bangladeshi citizens before reading this book?
- Reem was responsible for the setting up of a shelter for those women and children in her village made homeless by the floods. What do you think of her idea?
- How difficult will it be for those living in shelters to get back on their feet after losing everything?
- In a cross-curricular activity with Geography, draw a map of Bangladesh and highlight the areas around the coast which are in danger of disappearing and the inland areas which are regularly flooded. How much worse do you think it is now you can actually see everything in front of you?
- Khalamoni was very upset when her article wasn’t printed. How could she make use of the Internet to get her message to the biggest possible audience?
- What did you think of Nadia’s article? Did you notice what position she got on the school newspaper?
Many thanks to Hodder Children’s for the review copy.
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