Yasmin's Hammer

Review
By Betty Liverman, Teacher Librarian at Tucson Unified School District

The cover and colorful oil illustrations will entice readers to pick up this book. The setting is the crowded country of Bangladesh. A family consisting of Abba and Amma, (father, mother) and their 2 young daughters move from a village into the city. Abba drives a rickshaw and Amma is a house cleaner. Each day Yasmin and Mita are taken to a brickyard to work. The work is hard and tiring. Yasmin longs to go to school. One day after working extra hard she is able to buy a book. The whole family delight in looking at this book. Abba and his wife realize they must increase their workload in order to send the girls to school. Poverty and child labor go hand in hand in many countries. This title demonstrates the importance of reading and pursuing an education. The afterword provides information on the country, a map is included, a glossary, and further reading. “Yasmin’s Hammer” could be used as an introduction to research the issue of child labor along with other economic and cultural differences. Recommended.