While other children are busy creating castles and shops for their school project Yasmin, the lively heroine of this vibrant and attractive series, cannot think what to do. A creative block that will resonate with readers who find it hard to get started on a task. But then she realises that by creating pavements and bridges she brings the buildings together and during break time she creates a community for the whole class. The text is Book Banded Turquoise and with the quirky inclusive illustrations will be confidence building for emergent readers. Yasmin and her family come from Pakistan, so we have occasional Urdu words used and explained and a light touch introduction to Pakistan and its culture. There are discussion questions, author and illustrator biographies and finally, instructions are given for building a model castle needing only cardboard, scissors and glue , usefully modelling instructional text The sparky protagonist, Yasmin also features as a painter, explorer and fashion model in this highly recommended series.
Everyone seems to have a great idea for the makerspace project, everyone except for Yasmin! All the good ideas are taken. Luckily, recess solves everything! Inspiration strikes and Yasmin creates something that brings the whole class together.
Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American writer, essayist and interfaith activist. She writes for a number of publications including the Huffington Post, and is editor-in-chief of Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art, poetry and prose. Her adult short story collection Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan was published in 2015. She resides in Houston, TX with her husband and children.
