Saadia Faruqi - Yasmin the Zookeeper

To Mariam for inspiring me, and Mubashir for helping me find the right wordsS.F.

To my sister, Eman, and her amazing girls, Jana and KenziH.A.

Yasmin and Mama walked together to school one morning. At least Mama walked. Yasmin skipped. She was very excited. Today her class was taking a field trip to the zoo.

Heres your lunch, Yasmin, said Mama, handing her a brown bag. Theres fruit in there for a snack too.

Yasmin hugged her mother and boarded the bright yellow bus.

Yasmin looked around. Shed never been on a school bus before.

Emma waved to her. Yasmin, sit with me!

Hey, your brown bag is just like mine! Yasmin said.

Mine too! Ali said, popping up behind them. His bag was big! The girls laughed.

Ready, class? asked Ms. Alex.

Ready! the students shouted.

The ride to the zoo was very long. The students sang songs and told jokes. Alis jokes were the funniest.

Whats a kangaroos favorite game? he asked. Hop Scotch!

The zoo was full of all kinds of animals. Ms. Alex led the way. First was a pool for seals.

Look, theyre taking a bath! Yasmin said.

A seal swam toward them. It splashed them all with water!

Dont stand too close, Ms. Alex warned. Remember, this is the animals home, not yours.

Next they walked to the elephant yard. Yasmin counted three elephants: a , and a baby.

How adorable! cried Emma.

The baba elephant walked over and snatched Alis cap from his head.

Hey! shouted Ali. Give it back!

Finally, they reached the monkey area. Bandars! Yasmins favorite.

A zookeeper was waiting for them. Hello, kids, he said. Im Dave. Its the monkeys lunchtime. Would anyone like to help me?

All the students raised their hands. Yasmin tried to raise hers the highest.

Please pick me, she whispered.

How about you, in the purple top? Dave said. He pointed to Yasmin.

Yes! Yasmin cheered.

Dave gave Yasmin a big bowl of fruit. It had slices of apples, bananas, and oranges.

Fruit salad! said Emma.

Yasmin carefully walked toward the monkeys. They squealed and chattered with excitement.

But suddenly, Yasmin tripped! The bowl of fruit went flying... right into the pond.

The monkeys were upset. They wanted their lunch! They screeched and howled. Yasmins heart thumped. Would Dave be angry too?

Then she remembered the lunch bag in her backpack.

What had Mama packed? Yasmin opened it.

A banana!

Can I share my fruit with the monkeys? Yasmin asked Dave.

I guess it would be all right, just this once, Dave said. He broke the banana into pieces for Yasmin.

A baby monkey climbed onto Yasmins lap. She held very still as the monkey nibbled banana from her hand. It tickled!

Then Emma took out her brown bag. I have two oranges, she offered.

The other students took out their brown bags too. Soon all the monkeys had fruit to eat.

Now its time for our lunch! Ms. Alex said. Lets go to the playground and eat.

Yasmin waved goodbye to the monkeys.

Bye, ! Ill come again someday, little friends!

• Yasmin is a little nervous about riding a school bus for the first time. How does Emma make Yasmin feel more comfortable? How would you help a friend who felt nervous or scared?
• When Yasmin drops the fruit, she has to think fast to come up with a solution to her problem. Think about a time in your life when something went wrong. What did you do?
• Imagine you are going to a zoo that has every animal in the world. If you could only choose three animals to visit, which three would you choose? Why?

Yasmins family speaks both English and Urdu. Urdu is a language from Pakistan. Maybe you already know some Urdu words!

(BAH-bah) father (BAHN-dar) monkey hijab (HEE-jahb) scarf covering the hair jaan (jahn) life; a sweet nickname for a loved one kameez (kuh-MEEZ) long tunic or shirt (MAH-mah) mother naan (nahn) flatbread baked in the oven nana (NAH-nah) grandfather on mothers side nani (NAH-nee) grandmother on mothers side salaam (sah-LAHM) hello

Yasmin and her family are proud of their Pakistani culture. Yasmin loves to share facts about Pakistan!

Pakistan is on the continent of Asia, with India on one side and Afghanistan on the other.

Pakistans population is about 207,774,520, making it the worlds sixth-most populous country.