Description
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, as two girls work hard all day to help support their family by chipping bricks into small pieces, older sister Yasmin seeks a way to attend school and learn to read so that she can have a better life one day. Includes author's note about conditions in Bangladesh, child labor, and how to help.
ISBN
1620142333 / 9781620142332
Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Lee & Low Books (2015), Edition: Reprint, 40 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member GRgenius
How can one not love a book that emphasizes the importance of being able to read? Honestly, it's one skill that can make or break you. This book explores the lives of those whose quest to obtain this basic skill is much harder than most. Focusing on Yasmin and her family, we watch as they struggle
A good story at face value as well as a working tool to bring to light the severity of the educational situation in other countries. Something to think about the next time you take a book or reading for that matter for granted.
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to find some way to maintain an adequate living enviroment with the goal of one day sending their girls to school so they can drink of the knowledge they have for so long desired.A good story at face value as well as a working tool to bring to light the severity of the educational situation in other countries. Something to think about the next time you take a book or reading for that matter for granted.
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LibraryThing member Sullywriter
Great story about the value of education and an enlightening look at the difficult life representative of many children in southeast Asia.
LibraryThing member MichelleNappi
The main message of this book is to show that when a family works together and perseveres, they can accomplish goals impossible to accomplish alone.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. I loved the message of the importance of education. For example, in order to send the two daughters to school to
I also enjoyed this book because it touches on the struggle of moving from a rural area to a city. For example, as the narrator rides into the city with her father and sister she takes in the vast number of people, the vast number of trading stalls, the vast number of smells, sights, and buildings, and then reminisces about life back in the rural area. She talks about how she misses the quietness and simplicity of it all, from the flowing river to riding her water buffalo. I appreciated that the author added in this element. It gave more perspective of the family for the reader and gave the characters more depth. You realize all of the different struggles of the family. Not only are they working extremely hard to pay for school, but they are still trying to adjust to a vastly different lifestyle.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. I loved the message of the importance of education. For example, in order to send the two daughters to school to
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learn to read, every family member pitches in and works extremely hard to earn more money. The girls smash more bricks than any other girl at their workplace, the father picks up a more arduous trading route, and the mother pitches in more as well. The family sacrifices a great deal, all for the sake of education. It truly shows how precious literacy is.I also enjoyed this book because it touches on the struggle of moving from a rural area to a city. For example, as the narrator rides into the city with her father and sister she takes in the vast number of people, the vast number of trading stalls, the vast number of smells, sights, and buildings, and then reminisces about life back in the rural area. She talks about how she misses the quietness and simplicity of it all, from the flowing river to riding her water buffalo. I appreciated that the author added in this element. It gave more perspective of the family for the reader and gave the characters more depth. You realize all of the different struggles of the family. Not only are they working extremely hard to pay for school, but they are still trying to adjust to a vastly different lifestyle.
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Awards
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (Winner — Picture Book — 2011)
The Best Children's Books of the Year (Five to Nine — 2011)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
40 p.; 8.75 inches