Book Review: Ramadan on Rhama Road

If you’ve ever wondered what Ramadan is like or what some of the foods are that are used to break the fast, Ramadan on Rahma Road: A Recipe Storybook is a great resource. The book, with story by Razeena Omar Gutta, recipes by Faaiza Osman and illustrations by Atieh Sohrabi, explores different culinary traditions around iftar, the celebration at the end of the fast.

All the families are making something traditional for the feast, and what’s especially fun about this story is that you can just read it as a story, but there are 25 recipes included as well. So if you’re in the classroom you can talk about what goes into the different foods and if children have tried them.

If you’re reading at home you can pick a few recipes to try in your own kitchen. Some of these recipes might be familiar to you, either as things you make yourself or have eaten before, but others may be new to you. A sampling:

Chicken Tikka from Pakistan
Jollof Rice from Nigeria
Traditional Uyghur Laghman Noodles
Koshari, an Egyptian dish with lentils, rice, macaroni and onions in tomato sauce
Strawberry Pavlova from Austrialia

The recipes are meant to show that there are people who honor Ramadan around the world, and even the people in one neighborhood might come from different traditions.

After everyone has made their food they gather together and wait for the sun to set. Then everyone has a date and some water and the feast can begin.

The end of the book covers what Ramadan is (a month of fasting, prayer and good works) and includes even more recipes for drinks, toppings and yet more main dishes and sweets, like Nigerian fried dough called puff puff and sweet potato pie from the African American tradition.

This book is fun as a story book, a cookbook or both to learn more about the people who mark Ramadan and the food that brings them together.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback. Published 2026 by Barefoot Books. Suggested retail price $9.99.

Next Plan Idea:

Celebrating Ramadan for Kids

Shark Week generally happens in July, but any time is a good time to learn more about sharks.

First, start with some fun whale facts like these from Kids Craft Room. Here I learned about the dwarf lantern shark, which is the smallest shark and only grows to about 6-8 inches (about 15-20 cm) long. It also emits light. How cool is that?

Natural Beach Living has some great printable shark information guides, where kids can learn about different kinds of sharks, match the facts to the pictures, or print out doubles and do a shark memory game.

Living Life an Learning has some great shark activity pages including the parts of a shark, types of sharks, a crossword puzzle and more. Also check out their parts of a shark and word scramble download, and a life cycle worksheet.

Learn about how sharks float with this great activity from JDaniel4’s Mom.

Need more facts about sharks? This fact pact from The WOLFe PACK on Teacher Pay Teachers includes fact sheets, a printable flip book, informational text, vocabulary, comprehension questions and more.

Living Montessori Now has a great collection of shark themed activities with a Montessori inspired twist. You’ll find a shark roll and cover, shark phonics and lots more shark activities Deb has collected from all over the Internet.

Remember the “Sharknado” movie? A Few Shortcuts turned the combination of sharks and tornadoes into a fun science activity. You’ll need a bottle connector for this project but otherwise should have everything you need on hand. Use their template to make your sharks out of aluminum foil. So fun!

You can also do some shark themed coloring with these coloring pages from Encouraging Moms at Home. Or make a cool 3D shark with this template from korkotak. And there are tons of different shark crafts collected in this post from Kids Activities Blog.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

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