Yasmin the Gardener

Yasmin #10

by Saadia Faruqi, Hatem Aly (Illustrations)

It's spring! Yasmin and her baba are excited to plant their garden, and Yasmin chooses a flower seedling. She gives it plenty of sun, water, and good soil . . . so why is it wilting? Watching Nani sit in the sun gives Yasmin a bright idea and she knows just what her little plant needs.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Chapter Books

32 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani American author, essayist and interfaith activist. She writes the children’s early reader series “Yasmin” published by Capstone and other books for children, including middle grade novels “A Place At The Table” (HMH/Clarion 2020) co-written with Laura Shovan, and “A Thousand Questions” (Harper Collins 2020). She has also written “Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan” a short story collection for adults and teens. Saadia is editor-in-chief of Blue Minaret, a magazine for Muslim art, poetry and prose, and was featured in Oprah Magazine in 2017 as a woman making a difference in her community. She resides in Houston, TX with her husband and children.

Reviews

[A Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's spring and Baba takes Yasmin to the garden store. Baba agrees to buy Yasmin a plant of her own, if she will "look after it just like a mama would look after a baby." Yasmin helps Baba plant the vegetable seeds and then finds a place for her flowers. "I'm going to water you every day. I'll take care of you, just like a mama and a baba," Yasmin tells the flowers. Each day Yasmin checks on her flowers and finds that they're wilting. The first day she thinks they must be thirsty and on the second day she thinks that perhaps they need new soil, but on the third day when the plants are even more wilted she proclaims, "I've been a terrible mama!" Yasmin's grandparents come out to the garden and Nani complains that she is too hot and needs shade. When Yasmin goes to get her grandma an umbrella, she has an idea that perhaps her plants need some shade too. In the end Yasmin's flowers are happy and healthy. "Hooray, I'm a good mama after all!" Just like the other books, there are some prompts for readers and an activity in the back of the book. There are also 10 Urdu words listed along with their meanings and some facts about Pakistan as well. Not my favorite Yasmin book, but it's okay.

[Tea73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm using this book mainly as a way to read something in Spanish. (Unit 40 of Duolingo, and Lesson 6 of Pimsleur). I had to look up a few words, but it was easy to follow and many words were guessable from the context and the pictures. It's a sweet little story about a girl who figures out on her own why the plants she has aren't thriving. (I definitely can relate!) Yasmin is Muslim but it's not an important part of the story. There's a little bit about Pakistan at the end of the book and directions for starting plants from seeds using toilet paper rolls. There's also pretty extensive biographies of the author and the illustrator, the former is from Pakistan the latter from Egypt.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

When spring comes and her mother decides to put in a garden, Yasmin decides that she’d like to do some planting herself. But when the flowers in her window box begin to wilt, she experiments with changes to the soil, water, and shade until she finds the solution to help her plants perk up.

In three short, simple, colorful chapters Faruqi and Aly introduce young children to both agriculture and inductive reasoning.

[Ellon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite Yasmin story (maybe because I relate so well with having plants not do well haha)
I love how it shows Yasmin being persevering and a problem solver in order to care for her flowers.


(Story 2 in You Can Do It, Yasmin)

[FM Family · Rating 4 out of 5]

My five year old loves and is so enthusiastic to read all these Yasmin books. Although she isn’t willing to read them on here own, she wants us to do it, haha!What a great Early readers series! Love to see a spunky South Asian female protagonist, rather than who we had to read about as kids.

[Elizabeth]

Baba says Yasmin needs to take care of her flowers just as a mother would look after her baby. I wish it would've been stressed just how PARENTS take care of their baby.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series!

[dawn]

This is so cute! I just wanted to check it out & it's such a lovely series!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yasmin has a close and loving family and she figures stuff out. This is a fun and small book, perfect for new readers.

[Heather Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute, simple read for kids or beginners!

[Sobia A Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book about a little Muslim girl. No religious connotation is in this book; the only way you know is by family member names and both Nani and mama wear hijab.

Yasmin wants to take car of some flowers, but they are nor flourishing? Why? Through deductions she figures out why the flowers are wilting. Discussion questions at the end. Great read for anybody, but especially Muslim kids who will get to see themselves represented in these books by Faruqi.