Yasmin's Hammer

Written by Ann Malaspina and illustrated by Doug Ghayka. Malaspina writes historical nonfiction and multicultural literature for both children and young adults. She is a New Jersey native, where she lives with her family and is vocal proponent for the importance of literature. Ghayka grew up in Upstate New York, and graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with his degree in illustration. Today, he lives and works as a freelance artist in Savannah, Georgia.

Link to Picture for Yasmin's Hammer

Genre: Multicultural                                                              

Themes: Literacy/diversity 

Age: 6+

Summary: Yasmin and her sister work in the brickyards of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The stoy opens with the two riding in a rickshaw to thebrickyard and seeing th ecity on their way there. in order to make money to keep their family fed and the roof of their family's house repaired. Yasmin dreams of being able to read, and the opportunities it would open for her.        

Pre-Reading Activity:  Bring in a hammer and have the students each have a turn holding it.  Give them a chance to feel the weight.  If possible to establish a safe setting for them to swing the hammer offer them that opportunity   This should give them a small idea of the work the girl in this story has to do. 

Post-Reading Activity: Have student take on the role of Yasmin.  Do a free write journal entry or write a letter from Yasmin's perspective.  Write about what their living arrangements would be like, and how you would feel if you had to work so hard instead of going to school.  

Reflection: This is a moving story about the disparities that children have to face all around the world.  It is moving how hard a poor child and family would have to work and preserver just to purchase a book to read, and to be able to afford going to school instead of working.  This is a great story to read to children to help give them perspective on how fortunate their lives really are. 

Tan to Tamarind

Poems about the color brown
Poems written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar with Illustrations by Jamel Akib. Iyengar grew up in North Carolina. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Music, and her Master's in Education.  Today, she lives in the Los Angeles area, where she is an elementary teacher at a public school.  Akib was born in England, but raised in Malaysia. He has illustrated for many award-winning books, magazines, and advertisements. He now lives in England withhis wife and children.

Genre: Poetry
Themes: Diversity/multicultural
Ages: 6 and up

Summary: The book explores the beauty and variety of the color brown through poetry. The many shades of brown are compared and set against one another to demonstrate their brilliance. The poems encourage readers experience the reading through all the senses, from the smell of Hot Chocolate, to color of the desert of the Southwest United States.



Link to Picture of Tan to Tamarind

Pre-Reading Activity:

Post-Reading Activity: Have students compose a poem about their own perceived skin color.

Reflection: I love this book so much.  It is vibrant in its use of language to describe different tones of skin color.

Fly Free

Written by Rosanne Thon and Illustrated by Enjin Kim Neilan. Rosanne was born in California but has lived in Asia for over 15 years.  She is a journals, educator, and children's book author.   For more information about Thon click here. Neilan was born and raised in South Korea.  She has always loved art. She now lives in Massachusetts with her family and dog.  For more information about Enjin click here.

Genre: Fiction
Theme: Multicultural/ Diversity Education
Ages: 5-9

Summary: This is a story about a young girl who wishes to free caged birds in a Buddhist temple in Vietnam however she can only afford to feed them.  She generously gives away her red velvet shoes as a simple act of kindness which finally returns full circle back to the caged birds.
It includes information about the ideas of karma.   


Link for Picture of Fly Free

Pre-Reading Activity:  Show a picture of 2 or 3 children of varying heights, clothing styles, glasses, hair color, and skin color.  Ask class to volunteer things that are similar and different about the children.  Once skin color comes up open the discussion for names for different shades of skin color.

Post-Reading Activity: Have students write a poem about their perceived skin color. Teacher may scaffold the process by using sentence starters on a chart or an outline of the poem with blanks for students to fill in and draw a picture of themselves.

Reflection: This was a very touching a warm story.  It helps shed light on lesser known cultural beliefs in a way that is easy for young ones to comprehend.