Yasmin's Hammer

By Ann Malaspina

The story of Yasmin and her family takes place in Bangladesh. A cyclone destroyed Yasmin’s family home, their farm and their way of life as they knew it. Yasmin, her sister Mita, mother Amma and father Abba are all willing to do what it takes to support each other. Can they count on anyone else to help them? Are they destined to poverty and hard labor indefinitely?

Grade Four student and family connections...

What's similar to my family and Yasmin's family is we're both from Muslim faith. Another connection I have to Yasmin's family is we both came to a place to escape; for Yasmin, natural disasters and for us was war. And what's also similar is I came to America for a better opportunity even though I was born in America. -Adlan

She did not give up because she was brave and she worked very hard. -Dahlia

When my mom was little she was at school and her teacher was very rude. She only liked the others and treated her bad.

-Safiya

I realized that we take things for granted that others would move mountains for. -Frances

I liked that Yasmin never gave up hope to go to school and she got to go to school at last. One connection is that Yasmin is a kid like us. -Sophia

I feel very sympathetic towards the characters (Yasmin, Mita) as they worked hard to earn money just to go to school. Sometimes it's just so granted that kids need to go to school.

I cannot compare my problems with the girls. My problems are way smaller. One similarity/connection I can make is that we too, moved from our hometown in search of opportunities.

I liked that Yasmin finally got her own book.

I liked that she worked hard and achieved her goal. She made an extra effort to get the book. Also, there are good people in the world like the storekeeper who are always ready to help.

This is a must read story. Once you read the book, you would understand a bit of what it's like to rebuild your life.

-Aarya

I would like to share that Yasmin was patient and wanted to go to school. Then Yasmin wanted to work harder and Yasmin got more money to buy a book. Then Yasmin's family (her mom and dad) realized that they needed tI o learn to read and go to school.

One connection I made to the story was that people today don't want to learn or they don't want to go to school. They would rather do work, but Yasmin wanted to learn. We are lucky to have a school.

I would tell other people that if you do good in school you would get a non-labor job, but Yasmin got a labor job hammering bricks.

I liked the story because she started off as a hard working person hammering bricks and wanting to learn, then working harder and bouncing back and getting Yasmin's family to let them go to school and learn so their life won't just be breaking bricks and sweeping a rich lady's floor.

-Connor

At first I thought that Yasmin buying the book was kind of selfish because her family needed the money, but then when she read it with her family, it changed her parent's minds about the girls going to school and they went to school soon after.

-Kian

I feel like she was a little selfish for buying the book but she was not selfish when she shared it with her family and I think it helped her family overall.

-Van

My parents went to Malawi, Africa, and a lot of the setting (market) was very alike. I also felt sad for Yasmin because she could not go to school.

-Emily

I felt really sad that the girls could not go to school.

-Janet (Emily's mom)

Yasmin's Hammer book is quite short yet so powerful. It is hard to read it without tears as you realize what these girls have gone through.

Fleeing from the flooding and setting up their new life in the city where they have to work to help sustain the family at such a young age. Breaking bricks harms their health as they breathe in small particles so does the hot sun they have to work under. And the only dream Yasmin has is to be able to read, be able to get an education so that her family can get out of the vicious circle they are in.

That little girl is so smart she realizes that the only way to stop weaving baskets, clean other people's laundry or work as rickshaw is education - effortless for some but so inaccessible for others. But one bright idea would be buried if it won't have a support of others and Yasmin's parents are an example of one of the best parents out there - supportive and caring.

That short story brings up so many global issues like climate change, urbanization, disparity, child labor, inaccessibility of education for many children in many developing countries. It is important to bring up those issues so that people in developed countries like ours realize how fortunate we are and that we must help others.

I myself came from Belarus - a developing country. After the USSR collapsed our lives got miserable, however education was always accessible for us and I never had to work as a child. We didn't have fancy clothes or shoes and we had to wear second hand we could get, we also had to sew our own clothes and knit our own sweaters so that we could have something to wear. But I am happy I went through this myself since it made us stronger and showed us that people don't need much to be happy. I am sure that Yasmin feels the same way - she is a new generation of people that would drive a change in her country, she is a proven leader that leads by example.

-Alena Chuprakova, Parent