Saadia Faruqi

Yasmin's painting for the art contest is due Friday, but she has lots of excuses for putting it off. She doesn't know what to paint, she doesn't think she's any good, and painting is messy. Turns out a mess is just what Yasmin needs for inspiration! Fully translated Spanish text.

In this engaging and moving middle grade novel, Saadia Faruqi writes about a contemporary Pakistani American girl whose passion for journalism starts a conversation about her grandmother's experience of the Partition of India and Pakistan-and the bond that the two form as she helps Dadi tell her story. When her grandmother comes off the airplane in Houston from Pakistan, Mahnoor knows that having Dadi move in is going to disrupt everything about her...

While her parents are out to dinner, a bored Yasmin decides to try on some of her mother's clothes, including her new shalwar kameez, which gets ripped--but with the help of Nana, Nani, and a glue-gun, the garment gets fixed, and Yasmin puts on an impromptu fashion show when her parents get home.

When spring arrives, Yasmin and her Baba plant a garden but Yasmin's flower seedling keeps wilting until her Nani sits in the sun, revealing to Yasmin what the plant needs.

When Yasmin's father explains to her about explorers and maps, Yasmin decides to make a map of her neighborhood and she brings it along on a trip to the farmers' market with her mother--but will the map help her when they are separated?

Unsure about her artistic skills, second-grader Yasmin is not looking forward to the art competition at school--but with the support and encouragement of her family she produces a prize-winning painting.

Second-grader Ali, his grandfather, and little brother Fateh head to the South Asian market to buy some snacks, but Ali loses Fateh and has to figure out quickly how to find him among the market's many aisles.

Second grader Ali Tahir considers himself to be a dinosaur expert, but on a class field trip to the natural history museum, Ali keeps getting his facts wrong, and is embarrassed in front of his friends and classmates.

Yasmin gathers a cape and mask and sets out to find a villain to defeat with her "super powers"--however there are no villains hiding on her block, just neighbors who need a little help.

After carefully planning a visit with Aly and Emma, Yasmin is disappointed to see that they want to play on their own, but a creative compromise may make everyone happy.