School-room housing refugees, Ibtisam discovers Alef, the first letter Despite these hardships life seems to go on, by turns surprising, funny, The family endures poverty, separations andįrequent relocation. We learn first hand about what it's like to live in the backdrop of war and cultural displacement. With moments of harshness, stark reality comes this beautifully written memoir of the author's childhood on Our hearts race and we become extremely anxious until the family is Her family as they join the throng of anxious Palestinians fleeing

Three-year-old Ibtisam and her family are uprooted from their home in the middle of the night, where the toddler hunts frantically for her lost shoe, loses It ended with the Israeli occupation of the Sinai and Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the West Bank (Source: Six-Day War. It's the first night of the 1967 Six-Day War, which pitted Israel against the Arab nations of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Review: With simple yet incredibly moving sentences, Barakat transports us from the comfort of our own homes to a hostile, foreign environment. Six-Day War, and the freedom she felt at learning to read and write. Refugee, discussing her family's experiences during and after the I think it should be read by young adults as well as adult readers.ĭescription: A memoir in which the author describes her childhood as a Palestinian

The memoir is an enjoyable, insightful, and quick read that inspires hope. No matter how much I read about the Middle East, I always seem to learn more.

Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat is an award winning and critically acclaim biography that takes place in the Middle East and is written for young adults. I'm not a big biography or memoir reader, but I am attracted to stories that go beyond the every day occurences of ones life.

Tasting the sky by ibtisam barakat