The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip
The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip written by Farhana Islam and illustrated by Simran Diamond Singh, is the eighth title in the 2026 Blue Peter Book Club.
Watch the animation below to discover more about the book.
Mina, Reema and Mobeen can't wait to go on their school trip to Shiremoor Oaks Adventure Centre until they hear the scary stories about Bertie Blackteeth.
The rumours say Bertie haunts the woods, leaving a scent of cheese and onion crisps waiting to ambush their next victim!
With Bertie Blackteeth lurking and the school bully seeming to have become the teacher's pet, this trip will test their friendship, courage and love of potato chips to the limit.
Will they make it out of the forest without an encounter with Bertie Blackteeth?
Mina, Reema and Mobeen are thrilled to be going on their school trip, an overnight stay at Shiremoor Oaks Adventure Centre… until somebody spooks them with stories about the terrifying Bertie Blackteeth, who haunts the woods, leaving a scent of cheese and onion crisps!
When the school bully becomes the teacher’s pet, they realise that this trip will test their friendship, courage and love of potato chips to the limit.
While out quad biking, they get separated from the rest of the group. Will they make it out of the forest before Bertie Blackteeth finds them?
You can get a sneak peek of the book over on Blue Peter.
How to build tension
The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip is full of action.
To make the action even more exciting, the author builds tension. This makes the reader feel like something big or exciting is about to happen!
To build tension, Farhana Islam uses two tools throughout the story:
- Repeating words to make them echo around the reader’s mind.
'THUD. THUD. THUD… CLUNK. CLUNK. CLUNK.' (page 159)
- Short, snappy sentences are used to represent the feeling of a fast heartbeat.
'They looked at us. We looked at them. They blinked. We blinked.'
(page 179)
These tools connect the reader to the character’s feelings, which makes the reader want to read more!
What are fronted adverbials and how are they used?
Throughout this action-packed adventure, lots of extra detail is added to help the reader picture the story. One way the author, Farhana Islam, has added extra detail is by using fronted adverbials.
An adverbial is a word or phrase that gives extra information about the action (verb). They add detail by telling the reader when, where, or how the action is happening.
When an adverbial is used at the start of a sentence, it becomes a ‘fronted adverbial’. A comma is used right after it to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
Take a look at these fronted adverbials that have been used to ramp up the detail and excitement.
‘At the last second, Poppy spun around and beamed her final beam.’
(page 100)
‘Slowly but surely, we would be surrounded by trees and mulch and squirrels.’ (page 115)
What is hyperbole and how is it used?
The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood has a huge amount of energy, flair and funny moments that keep readers on the edge of their seats.
To keep the book light-hearted and fun, the author uses hyperbole throughout.
Hyperbole exaggerates things by making them sound bigger, louder or much more dramatic than they really are. But remember… hyperbole is not meant to be taken literally!
Examples of funny, exaggerated (and a little bit wild) hyperbole in The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip include:
‘On a scale of 1 to 10, Ammu’s biryani is 10,000.’ (page 11)
‘That’s when the most terrifying thing in the whole, entire galaxy happened.’ (page 152)
These are excellent examples of hyperbole. They are too huge and unbelievable to be true, but make their point clear in a fun and playful way!
Example 1
Take a look at this extract below from the story (page 157).
Why has the author used repetitive short, snappy sentences that all start with the word ‘no’?
The air was dusty but it hung still. Nothing moved. No birds. No voices. No footsteps.
✓ Repeating words and using short snappy sentences builds tension.
Building tension using short sentences connects the reader to the action!
Example 2
Have a look at this sentence from the laser tag game (page 96):
Why is this sentence an example of hyperbole?
I spun around and my insides almost fell out.
✓ This sentence is hyperbole because it is an exaggeration of Mina’s feelings.
She is very scared; however, in reality, her insides won’t actually fall out!
Blue Peter Book Club
Watch as Shini and the Book Clubbers talk about their favourite parts of The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood: School Trip.
If you like your books a little bit scary…
…full of suspense…
…fantastically funny…
… and love a school trip adventure,
then this book is for you!
WOOoooooo!
Guys! It's just me!
Packed with humour, heart, and brilliant illustrations, The Misadventures of Mina Mahmood is the latest read in our BP Book Club.
Giving us the lowdown are book lovers Habeebah, Emily, Wren, Carmine and Robyn.
And where better to review a book about a school trip than a place where school trips happen every week? An outdoor adventure centre!
So, since we're at an outdoor centre, just like Mina and her friends were, what do you say we have a go at some activities?
Yeah, yeah, let's do it!
Just keep your eyes peeled, guys, for any crisp-loving phantoms!
Our first activity is all about testing our aim.
Right, guys? Let's set the stakes. What do we think? Yellow bullseye, 100 points?
Three…two…one… Release!
Yeah! Oh my goodness, Emily, you got blue. I got bunting!
Release!
Not to flex, but I just got a yellow!
Three…two…one!
Guys, we're getting better at this, don't you think?
I'm not.
We're doing pretty well hitting the target. But was this book a bullseye?
So, what did you guys like about the book?
I quite liked the description in the book because you feel like you're actually there.
The author, she's a primary school teacher, she sort of wrote how a child would think.
My favourite character was probably Bertie, cos… very terrifying!
I liked Mobeen because he's like, very clumsy.
Do you feel like you relate to him?
Sometimes!
So, Mina and her family are from Bangladesh. Was it really interesting reading about a South Asian main character?
You don't really get like a lot of books about like South Asia and everything.
I quite liked learning the language as well.
There was a bit that says a Bangladesh word. It actually sounds like a compliment, but it means are you a human or a cow?
Did it, like, make you laugh out loud?
Mobeen was really, really funny. Like when he thought a spider laid eggs in his hair. "Ah, a spider laid eggs in my hair. I'm gonna be a dad now!".
How spooky did we actually find the book?
It's not really that spooky.
You wanted more spook?
Yeah.
You're braver than me.
It's true.
It's true? Haha!
I think it's good for people who don't like spooky stuff and do because it's just a little bit.
Our next activity is all about testing our courage. Are we as brave as Mina and her friends?
They look so high up.
Carmine are you feeling good?
No. Great!
Whoa!
All right, let's go Wren!
Have a nice trip!
Our book clubbers are smashing this. I think they'd easily take on Bertie Blackteeth!
Woooo! Yeah!
They've zipped their way down. But how would they wrap up this month's book?
So, why do you think that everyone needs to read this book?
All the characters are very interesting, you want to know a lot more about them.
It's really, really, really, really funny.
There's a bit of a twist in the book and it's really suspenseful.
It's all types of genres and it's perfect for everyone, really.
Guys, what an adventure we've had. I think we can call it a wrap there, yeah?
No, hang on! You need to have a go!
Me…no! Guys!
Yeah. Come on. Get on up there!
You can do it.
Three…two…one… Wooo!
If you’ve read the book, can you write about what you enjoyed most? Think about the story, the challenges and the outcomes.
Have you been on a school trip before? Can you write about what you did and where you went? Did you have any adventures along the way?
Both of these will help you earn your Blue Peter Book Club badge, which you can read about here.
Quiz
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