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Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood
"When a war ends it does not go away," my mother says."It hides inside us . . . Just forget!"
But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember.
In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of
life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home.
Transcending the particulars of politics, this illuminating and timely book provides a telling glimpse into a little-known culture that has become an increasingly important part of the puzzle of world peace.
But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember.
In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of
life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home.
Transcending the particulars of politics, this illuminating and timely book provides a telling glimpse into a little-known culture that has become an increasingly important part of the puzzle of world peace.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 318 reviews
June 8, 2013
I love this book. I use it every year for my Theory of Knowledge class as an example of the powerful impact of emotions on the development of memory, knowledge, personality, and world perceptions. The story is simple to read, compelling, and almost always a hit with my students.
April 19, 2009
I read this book by sheer coincidence the day before I went to the occupied territories for the first time. I read it because I had just been given the book by the author, a lively, highly educated woman with whom I shared much in common during her short visit to Abu Dhabi. This was her memoir about growing up in Ramallah during and after the 1967 war that put the last of Palestine under Israeli control. As I read it, I realized how little our childhoods had in common and I thought of how much so many of us bear in childhood that doesn’t show up in social situations as adults. The poverty, instability, and constant fear of the writer’s life is told with such matter of fact simplicity and without any anger or self-pity, although it inspires anger and sorrow in the reader. Having met the author before reading it, it makes you realize that most of us who function in life as competent, life-affirming adults do so by not holding on to anger or self-pity, even if others can justify it for us. This is a quick read and tells the story of the occupation from the view point of its children, in this case through the eyes of an adult who grew up to deny it its secret power by revealing it in heartbreaking simplicity with her pen. When I arrived at the concrete wall that now blocks entrance to Ramallah the day after reading her book, I watched how yet another generation of children has to bear the sorrows and physical and emotional pain of the occupation, this time within an even bigger prison. And yet these children, like the author of Tasting the Sky, smile and welcome you to their home, for it is what it is and there is always hope and faith.
October 8, 2012
It’s 1981. 17-year-old Ibtisam’s bus is stopped and boarded by Israeli soldiers. One of the soldiers casually claims that her hometown of Ramallah is no more. While she waits to be released from the detention center, Ibtisam wonders what she is more afraid of . . . that her home is gone forever, or that her mother will ask where she has been all day and why. Thus begins her tale, as she puts it, of two occupations (one of home, and one of country), beginning with the Six Day War in 1967.
Most of Tasting the Sky focuses on Ibtisam’s experiences from four to seven years old. She speaks movingly of the horrors of the war and the aftermath . . . fleeing the Israeli soldiers, trying to survive as refugees, and the difficulties of rebuilding in an occupied land. Her mother’s post-traumatic anxiety for the family’s safety colors every page, and affects every aspect of Ibtisam’s life. Beneath her mother’s paralyzing fear lies a more insidious threat; an inability to love Ibtisam for who she is, rather than what she does. Learning, and language more specifically, becomes both the way to her mother’s heart and Ibtisam’s lifeline to a world beyond their hot piece of sky.
Despite some very positive attributes, Tasting the Sky is not an exemplary representation of its genre for two basic reasons. First, Tasting the Sky may masquerade as nonfiction, but is really something else. I would be tempted to call it "magical realism," if that genre had not already been defined. It is not that I doubt that the depicted events actually happened, but I am skeptical that four-year-old Ibtisam had the capacity to reflect on those events in the sophisticated way presented. Her inner world bears the brushstrokes of an astute adult consciousness, and consequently feels contrived. This might not be a problem if Barakat delineated more clearly between her thoughts as a child and her later interpretation of those thoughts as an adult. But the rhetorical style gives the reader the false impression that he or she is hearing directly from four or six-year-old Ibtisam, when all the time, adult Ibtisam (not even teenage Ibtisam) is actually the woman behind the curtain. Even though she probably made this artistic choice with good intentions, to me it smacks of feigned transparency, something that tends to make a memoir factually suspect in my mind.
Furthermore, while people of all ages may find it valuable to reflect on childhood experiences, teenagers will not find the greater part of Tasting the Sky attuned to their daily struggles and joys. Barakat’s ideas and experiences are surely worth examination, but there is little here to appeal specifically to the adolescent mind. Her story is likely to find an audience purely in professional and educational circles, where its subject matter and treatment of sensitive issues will be valued for its ability to spark discussion and encourage empathy.
Most of Tasting the Sky focuses on Ibtisam’s experiences from four to seven years old. She speaks movingly of the horrors of the war and the aftermath . . . fleeing the Israeli soldiers, trying to survive as refugees, and the difficulties of rebuilding in an occupied land. Her mother’s post-traumatic anxiety for the family’s safety colors every page, and affects every aspect of Ibtisam’s life. Beneath her mother’s paralyzing fear lies a more insidious threat; an inability to love Ibtisam for who she is, rather than what she does. Learning, and language more specifically, becomes both the way to her mother’s heart and Ibtisam’s lifeline to a world beyond their hot piece of sky.
Despite some very positive attributes, Tasting the Sky is not an exemplary representation of its genre for two basic reasons. First, Tasting the Sky may masquerade as nonfiction, but is really something else. I would be tempted to call it "magical realism," if that genre had not already been defined. It is not that I doubt that the depicted events actually happened, but I am skeptical that four-year-old Ibtisam had the capacity to reflect on those events in the sophisticated way presented. Her inner world bears the brushstrokes of an astute adult consciousness, and consequently feels contrived. This might not be a problem if Barakat delineated more clearly between her thoughts as a child and her later interpretation of those thoughts as an adult. But the rhetorical style gives the reader the false impression that he or she is hearing directly from four or six-year-old Ibtisam, when all the time, adult Ibtisam (not even teenage Ibtisam) is actually the woman behind the curtain. Even though she probably made this artistic choice with good intentions, to me it smacks of feigned transparency, something that tends to make a memoir factually suspect in my mind.
Furthermore, while people of all ages may find it valuable to reflect on childhood experiences, teenagers will not find the greater part of Tasting the Sky attuned to their daily struggles and joys. Barakat’s ideas and experiences are surely worth examination, but there is little here to appeal specifically to the adolescent mind. Her story is likely to find an audience purely in professional and educational circles, where its subject matter and treatment of sensitive issues will be valued for its ability to spark discussion and encourage empathy.
October 6, 2012
Anne Buckwalter
Bryan Neuschwander
English 2: Composition
6 October 2012
“Insay. Insay.”
Imagine a child, three years old and helpless, wondering frantically through a swarm of people with only one shoe, searching for her missing family, eyes darting back and forth, crying tears of defeat. Bombs are heard throughout the distance while feet rumble across the rigid ground like a stampede of wild horses. Pulling intently on her mother’s tattered skirt, the child looks up in hope, only to find a fierce glare in return. She whimpers back, realizing that the mother was only a mere stranger. Ibtisam Barakat vividly describes a Palestinian childhood during the 6-day war in her thrilling book Tasting the Sky. This book is not only educational, but it leaves the reader wanting more! Heartwarming and tragic, a setting of mass chaos is described throughout the book, creating a sympathetic and longing emphasis, accenting the importance of family throughout strife, grief, and celebration.
“When I looked behind, I could no longer see the giant shadow of our home. The world within and around me seemed to fade into the unknown” (page 25). This is how the unnamed child felt when the 6-day war started. Only three years old, this girl lost her family while trying to escape to Jordan. Finding her family along the way, relief floods through the atmosphere, letting everyone continue the journey in peace. Ma, Pa, the brothers, Bazal and Muhammad, were the minor characters throughout the book and only one true character remained; the child. “Outside, on the step in front of the locked door, my three-and-a-half-year-old self stood silently, screaming for my parents to wait for me. The feeling of that moment stung like fire in my heart” (page 166).
“When a war ends, it does not go away,” she says. “It hides inside us.” She knows. “Do not walk that road,” she warns me. “Insay. Insay.” “Just forget” (page 16)! The 6-day war, between Israel and Palestine, was a tragic time for many in the year of 1967. Lasting for six days, Israel took over and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza strip, and East Jerusalem. Part 1 and part 3 in this book lead off into remembering the 6-day war, but part 2 begins on the first day of the 6-day war, spanning for four years. Palestinian people went through a lot during the 6-day war and maybe even more afterward. Leaving homes was heartbreaking, the trip was sweaty and gruesome, and food was scarce, if affordable! Hot rays of sun beat down on the backs of those who trudged, wanting helplessly for the war to end, for them to return home. Those who made it to Jordan stayed in a large wooden home, a home filled with stories and tears, echoing throughout the lonely planks. Once the 6-day war ended, message came that it was okay to return home. It was okay to return home. But was it safe?
“Insay. Insay.” This child could not forget, could not let go. Scenes flashed by in a blur, the thundering feet, agonizing pain, “Insay. Insay.” No, she could not, the soldiers, the grim faces glaring with their pointed weapons. “Insay. Insay.” Bombs vibrating the ground followed by screams of terror, and the weeping, weeping of the helpless children. “Insay. Insay.” The rush of running figures, the dead that lay alongside the road, and the noise, the noise. Ear splitting roars, “Insay.” Yells of battle cries. “Insay.” She could never forget, no matter what, she would always be that three year old child, lost, and alone, “Insay.” She would never see the same again.
Bryan Neuschwander
English 2: Composition
6 October 2012
“Insay. Insay.”
Imagine a child, three years old and helpless, wondering frantically through a swarm of people with only one shoe, searching for her missing family, eyes darting back and forth, crying tears of defeat. Bombs are heard throughout the distance while feet rumble across the rigid ground like a stampede of wild horses. Pulling intently on her mother’s tattered skirt, the child looks up in hope, only to find a fierce glare in return. She whimpers back, realizing that the mother was only a mere stranger. Ibtisam Barakat vividly describes a Palestinian childhood during the 6-day war in her thrilling book Tasting the Sky. This book is not only educational, but it leaves the reader wanting more! Heartwarming and tragic, a setting of mass chaos is described throughout the book, creating a sympathetic and longing emphasis, accenting the importance of family throughout strife, grief, and celebration.
“When I looked behind, I could no longer see the giant shadow of our home. The world within and around me seemed to fade into the unknown” (page 25). This is how the unnamed child felt when the 6-day war started. Only three years old, this girl lost her family while trying to escape to Jordan. Finding her family along the way, relief floods through the atmosphere, letting everyone continue the journey in peace. Ma, Pa, the brothers, Bazal and Muhammad, were the minor characters throughout the book and only one true character remained; the child. “Outside, on the step in front of the locked door, my three-and-a-half-year-old self stood silently, screaming for my parents to wait for me. The feeling of that moment stung like fire in my heart” (page 166).
“When a war ends, it does not go away,” she says. “It hides inside us.” She knows. “Do not walk that road,” she warns me. “Insay. Insay.” “Just forget” (page 16)! The 6-day war, between Israel and Palestine, was a tragic time for many in the year of 1967. Lasting for six days, Israel took over and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza strip, and East Jerusalem. Part 1 and part 3 in this book lead off into remembering the 6-day war, but part 2 begins on the first day of the 6-day war, spanning for four years. Palestinian people went through a lot during the 6-day war and maybe even more afterward. Leaving homes was heartbreaking, the trip was sweaty and gruesome, and food was scarce, if affordable! Hot rays of sun beat down on the backs of those who trudged, wanting helplessly for the war to end, for them to return home. Those who made it to Jordan stayed in a large wooden home, a home filled with stories and tears, echoing throughout the lonely planks. Once the 6-day war ended, message came that it was okay to return home. It was okay to return home. But was it safe?
“Insay. Insay.” This child could not forget, could not let go. Scenes flashed by in a blur, the thundering feet, agonizing pain, “Insay. Insay.” No, she could not, the soldiers, the grim faces glaring with their pointed weapons. “Insay. Insay.” Bombs vibrating the ground followed by screams of terror, and the weeping, weeping of the helpless children. “Insay. Insay.” The rush of running figures, the dead that lay alongside the road, and the noise, the noise. Ear splitting roars, “Insay.” Yells of battle cries. “Insay.” She could never forget, no matter what, she would always be that three year old child, lost, and alone, “Insay.” She would never see the same again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2021
Compelling story of a 4 year olds life during and after the 6-day war in Palestine.
There is no historical or political background, which of course makes sense as its written from a toddlers viewpoint. This doesn't make it less interesting and hence the focus is on how it was and felt to live in these times. A very interesting and genuine portrait of a child's life, I would say.
Roughly the first half I liked more because of the tension and more ongoing story. The second half was more fragmented. Although there was a ongoing line, it felt more short story-like.
There is no historical or political background, which of course makes sense as its written from a toddlers viewpoint. This doesn't make it less interesting and hence the focus is on how it was and felt to live in these times. A very interesting and genuine portrait of a child's life, I would say.
Roughly the first half I liked more because of the tension and more ongoing story. The second half was more fragmented. Although there was a ongoing line, it felt more short story-like.
October 5, 2019
One of the many things I liked about this book was how the author reminds us that, despite many differences on the outside, there are more things that we humans have in common with each other.
January 4, 2017
This memoir was recommended to me by a former student who read it in her freshman year of college and loved it. It is a YA novel and a wonderful, engaging story of one child's experiences as a refugee. It is a timely and useful choice.
The story drew me along very fast and though I knew where it would end, I was eager to find out what would happen next. Many reviewers commend the book as "well written" and there I would disagree. It is a great story and it has glorious moments, but the author is far too fond of simile—often three or four on a page, and as likely to be cliché or inaccurate as apt. The voice and perspective of a young child of 3-7 is not quite believable, and the ending was less than I hoped for. But I still read every word.
Here is a glory moment from the middle: "The shadows, I could see, were mixtures of colors—blue, purple, gray, and perhaps an unlit red that got sifted out at the end of the day to give the night its darkness." I read that line over and over. Gorgeous! There is more like that, but there are also passages that seem carelessly constructed, one scene that drifts out of the timeline and space, a reference to years of missing family that only arrives far too late in the narrative, and similes and analogies that seem decorative rather than artful and true.
She needed a better editor, one who would have cleared away the unnecessary literary devices and allowed what was left to bloom.
Still, this is a fine memoir.
The author dedicates the book to Alef, the first letter of the alphabet, and to her parents and older brothers and "to children everywhere." She describes herself as a bilingual author and poet.
MINOR SPOILER
[Despite the danger, I will never understand how her father refused to carry his shoeless daughter even part of the way. She was three and a half. When my sons were four and two, I often had to carry them home a mile and a half from our morning walk to the next beach, sometimes both of them, and I was a small woman while they were big boys.]
The story drew me along very fast and though I knew where it would end, I was eager to find out what would happen next. Many reviewers commend the book as "well written" and there I would disagree. It is a great story and it has glorious moments, but the author is far too fond of simile—often three or four on a page, and as likely to be cliché or inaccurate as apt. The voice and perspective of a young child of 3-7 is not quite believable, and the ending was less than I hoped for. But I still read every word.
Here is a glory moment from the middle: "The shadows, I could see, were mixtures of colors—blue, purple, gray, and perhaps an unlit red that got sifted out at the end of the day to give the night its darkness." I read that line over and over. Gorgeous! There is more like that, but there are also passages that seem carelessly constructed, one scene that drifts out of the timeline and space, a reference to years of missing family that only arrives far too late in the narrative, and similes and analogies that seem decorative rather than artful and true.
She needed a better editor, one who would have cleared away the unnecessary literary devices and allowed what was left to bloom.
Still, this is a fine memoir.
The author dedicates the book to Alef, the first letter of the alphabet, and to her parents and older brothers and "to children everywhere." She describes herself as a bilingual author and poet.
MINOR SPOILER
[Despite the danger, I will never understand how her father refused to carry his shoeless daughter even part of the way. She was three and a half. When my sons were four and two, I often had to carry them home a mile and a half from our morning walk to the next beach, sometimes both of them, and I was a small woman while they were big boys.]
January 1, 2010
When I first read the summary of this book I though it would be really interesting. But I'm really disappointed because it didn't pull me in and the story wasn't as appealing as the way i thought it would be. What amazes me the most though is that the author remembers these specific events from her childhood from when she was only three. Truthfully I don't think anyone has ever remembered such vivid events happening in their lifetime the same way that Ibitisam remembered them. The thing I hate about this book is that she didn't conclude the end of the book well. I thought she should have explained a little more at the end about how the war ended or what happened later on in her life. She left all of her readers hanging and wanting to know more about what happened and it's a really disappointing ending. I think that's what really changes my view of this book, if it had ended differently I think maybe my rating of this book would have been higher.
December 22, 2014
War in childhood's shoe
March 18, 2019
Maybe a 3.5. A memoir written for middle school/young adults. Author was born in Jerusalem to a Muslim Arab Palestinian family, 3 years before the 1968 War, who immigrated to the United States as a 22 year old university graduate magazine intern. Interesting & sad, too, to follow her early childhood from refugee settlement to a return home that is now under Israeli occupation. Told from the standpoint of her emotions and through the viewpoint of child. Her passion for school & language & words send her out into the world.
Read
July 23, 2022Read this in middle school and got me really wanting to try basbousa, still do...
March 20, 2018
Really really boring don't read it. Well maybe it would have been good if I was like ten and if I read it in my own and not for school
December 6, 2021
“The roads and mail system here are like our country, broken. Letters are like prayers; they take a long time to be answered. What would my pen pals say if I told them that I am standing at a detention center because I went to open my postbox for their letters?”
“I write poems about the cruelty of mothers. “What difference is there between a mother and a soldier? None.” I underline my answer. “Mothers and soldiers are enemies of freedom. I am doubly occupied.”
“I compare my father with the fathers of other girls. He is poorer than many, and war lives inside him. Every night, he wakes up shouting that someone is going to kill him, kill us all.”
“My father has no language for the pain and loneliness he feels. Is that because he has lived all his life not knowing freedom? Or does he hide his freedom somewhere, the way I hide mine in Post Office Box 34?”
“Sinking in the sea
Of forgetfulness-
I reach for the raft
Of remembering.”
“I write poems about the cruelty of mothers. “What difference is there between a mother and a soldier? None.” I underline my answer. “Mothers and soldiers are enemies of freedom. I am doubly occupied.”
“I compare my father with the fathers of other girls. He is poorer than many, and war lives inside him. Every night, he wakes up shouting that someone is going to kill him, kill us all.”
“My father has no language for the pain and loneliness he feels. Is that because he has lived all his life not knowing freedom? Or does he hide his freedom somewhere, the way I hide mine in Post Office Box 34?”
“Sinking in the sea
Of forgetfulness-
I reach for the raft
Of remembering.”
December 4, 2009
I had a chance to see what Ibtisam went through while she was a little girl and a war was going on in her city. I explored many places in this book from Jordan to Ramallah. In real life I have visited Jordan last summer and Ramallah and both places are beautiful the way Ibtisam descibes them. I actually live close to Ramallah. I would love to meet the author and talk to her one day. I think you should read this because its really nice and it shows you what kids go throw while there is a war going on in there homeland.
July 1, 2017
Barakat was 3 1/2 when her family had to run for their lives as Palestinans during the Six Day War in Ramallah in 1968. In this book she shares her daily life, childhood dreams and thoughts, and her family's struggles as they are refugees, then return to their home, then have to leave again under Israeli occupation. She explains the political issues in simple language and I learned a lot about this complicated conflict (that still continues!!)
The content of the book is interesting, heartbreaking, and important worldly knowledge. But what shines is Barakat's lyrical descriptions of her homeland, her love for her parents and siblings, and her feisty personality. This short book ends around age 7.
The companion book Balcony on the Moon continues her story coming of age in Palestine.
The content of the book is interesting, heartbreaking, and important worldly knowledge. But what shines is Barakat's lyrical descriptions of her homeland, her love for her parents and siblings, and her feisty personality. This short book ends around age 7.
The companion book Balcony on the Moon continues her story coming of age in Palestine.
February 10, 2024
I think this is a good one to gain insight on in a unique way. the author shared her story like telling your childhood to a friend. of course themes are highlighted but it's not an emphasis that she writes to focus on. she shares every experience, those specific childhood memories. and that happens to include the six day war.
August 10, 2019
Hear braking for sure! A very good and quick read!
October 29, 2023
wow the amount of detail that the author remembers is really impressive (considering her age at the time of events) and also very heartbreaking
November 19, 2023
leería este libro todos los días de mi vida
January 21, 2024
"Flapping my arms to let the breeze tickle me, for a moment I felt free, like a bird, tasting the sky. All here was mine, and felt like home to me."
June 22, 2024
4.5
Such an emotional and quick read.
Such an emotional and quick read.
July 20, 2024
Hard subject written with lyrical prose.
It really makes you think of the cost of war and conflict, the human, on the ground cost.
It really makes you think of the cost of war and conflict, the human, on the ground cost.
June 20, 2019
A well written and important memoir that I look forward to teaching next year.
January 10, 2024
This is a great book for middle school or early high school grade students who want to learn more about growing up in Palestine.
November 29, 2007
There aren't many books on the Palestinian situation available for children, and fewer still that are memoirs. I actually managed to pick up and read Ibtisam Barakat's, "Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood," without ever realized that it was more than mere historical fiction. As a bilingual author and poet, Ms. Barakat could have written a straight up autobiography, but somehow the slightly fictionalized memoir is just as moving and intense a portrait as anyone could ask for. It gives her struggles a weight, balance, and arc that wouldn't necessarily belong in a standard series of personal facts. Tracing her life from just before the Six-Day War when she was three to her state as a teenager, Ibtisam remembers her struggles in an occupied Palestine and draws strength from her past.
The prose itself is pretty good. An Israeli soldier butchering his Arabic pronunciations makes, "the words sound like they have been beaten up, bruised so blue they can hardly speak their meaning." When shouting down a well she says, "We called out one another's names; the echoes returned to us as though our voices had grown older than we were." I liked that the teenaged Ibtisam felt so claustrophobic under her mother's attentions that she wrote, "Mothers and soldiers are enemies of freedom. I am doubly occupied." You learn things too. At one point we learn that the Arabic word for "imagine" is "batkhayyal" which means, "to see the shadow of a thought."
Of course, you want to know more. If we understand that this book is a fictionalization of Ms. Barakat's own life then we want to understand how she came to be a resident of Columbia, Missouri after a childhood as a refugee. The answer to this lies in two parts. In a final note in the book that reads "Giving Back to the World" she writes, "Without the help of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ... millions of other children and I would not have gone to school or learned to read, write, and use our pencils to clear a tiny path through the wreckage of refugee life..." Later in the backflap of the book we learn too that the author, "grew up in Ramallah and has a degree in English literature from Birzeit University in the West Bank. She came to the United States in 1986 for an internship at The Nation magazine." Considering the number of starred professional reviews (at least three as of this review) "Tasting the Sky" has received already, not to mention its inclusion more than a few Best Books of 2007 lists, Ms. Barakat might wish to consider penning a sequel to her story. Perhaps one that follows her heroine through her tricky years of a teen. Such a novel might make for a lovely companion to Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, if nothing else.
For many kids, the conflict in Palestine is a difficult topic to grasp. That probably goes for teens and adults as well, I'd wager. What Barakat's book offers is a modest introduction to the history behind some of the troubles via her own personal history. People who would like to include this in a unit for teenagers could consider pairing it with Joe Sacco's graphic novel Palestine for a more recent look at the problem. We may or may not see an answer to the hostilities in an occupied Palestine in our lifetimes, but at the very least we can know that there are voices out there like Ibtisam Barakat who are striving for a peaceful solution. As she says at the beginning, "Many countries have an intense involvement with the Israelis and Palestinians. But the approach of siding with one group or the other, caring about only one rather than both, seems to add to the strife." Let's hope she has more stories in her to tell.
The prose itself is pretty good. An Israeli soldier butchering his Arabic pronunciations makes, "the words sound like they have been beaten up, bruised so blue they can hardly speak their meaning." When shouting down a well she says, "We called out one another's names; the echoes returned to us as though our voices had grown older than we were." I liked that the teenaged Ibtisam felt so claustrophobic under her mother's attentions that she wrote, "Mothers and soldiers are enemies of freedom. I am doubly occupied." You learn things too. At one point we learn that the Arabic word for "imagine" is "batkhayyal" which means, "to see the shadow of a thought."
Of course, you want to know more. If we understand that this book is a fictionalization of Ms. Barakat's own life then we want to understand how she came to be a resident of Columbia, Missouri after a childhood as a refugee. The answer to this lies in two parts. In a final note in the book that reads "Giving Back to the World" she writes, "Without the help of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ... millions of other children and I would not have gone to school or learned to read, write, and use our pencils to clear a tiny path through the wreckage of refugee life..." Later in the backflap of the book we learn too that the author, "grew up in Ramallah and has a degree in English literature from Birzeit University in the West Bank. She came to the United States in 1986 for an internship at The Nation magazine." Considering the number of starred professional reviews (at least three as of this review) "Tasting the Sky" has received already, not to mention its inclusion more than a few Best Books of 2007 lists, Ms. Barakat might wish to consider penning a sequel to her story. Perhaps one that follows her heroine through her tricky years of a teen. Such a novel might make for a lovely companion to Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, if nothing else.
For many kids, the conflict in Palestine is a difficult topic to grasp. That probably goes for teens and adults as well, I'd wager. What Barakat's book offers is a modest introduction to the history behind some of the troubles via her own personal history. People who would like to include this in a unit for teenagers could consider pairing it with Joe Sacco's graphic novel Palestine for a more recent look at the problem. We may or may not see an answer to the hostilities in an occupied Palestine in our lifetimes, but at the very least we can know that there are voices out there like Ibtisam Barakat who are striving for a peaceful solution. As she says at the beginning, "Many countries have an intense involvement with the Israelis and Palestinians. But the approach of siding with one group or the other, caring about only one rather than both, seems to add to the strife." Let's hope she has more stories in her to tell.
January 19, 2012
--- This review is based upon the Feb. 2007 Kindle edition ---
This is an expressive memoir of the author’s experience as a child during the Six Days’ War of 1967. The narrative begins and ends with brief letters written in 1981. The opening letter recounts her experience at an Israeli checkpoint while riding a bus to Birzeit to collect letters from pen pals. In this opening reflection, Barakat is reluctant to answer questions about her childhood. Barakat was just over three years old when her family, living in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 1967, had to move because of the war. In addition to her mother and father, Barakat has two older brothers, Basel and Muhammad, and an infant sister Maha.
Barakat and her family fled their home to escape the Israeli bombing at the start of the war, and the narrative follows their journey to Amman, Jordan. During frequent moves to different shelters, including closed schools and homes generously shared to ease their plight, Barakat affectionately tempers the difficulties and terror of daily life with her love of Alef and Alef’s friends, the alphabet, and the education she desperately wishes to pursue.
The final section of the book is a response to the opening letter, returning the narrative to 1981. This brief letter reflects the cathartic effect of her recollection of her early childhood, a response to ideas posed in the opening letter. A poem gracefully completes the narrative.
This Kindle edition includes historical notes about the conflict. There is a list of recommended books relevant to Mideast issues, in addition to other web sites and organizations dedicated to resolving the complex issues of this difficult region.
Reviews suggest a grade level of seven and higher. The narrative provides opportunities to explore themes related to the Six Days’ War, and the larger issues pertaining to Mideast conflict. Since the narrative is eloquent and avoids extreme language, some 5th or 6th grade students may find it to be a suitable introduction to the topic. There are many rich examples of Palestinian culture, providing opportunities to explore traditions unfamiliar to some readers. There is one section pertaining to the circumcision of Basel and Muhammad that may require sensitivity to the maturity of younger readers or parental concerns.
This is an expressive memoir of the author’s experience as a child during the Six Days’ War of 1967. The narrative begins and ends with brief letters written in 1981. The opening letter recounts her experience at an Israeli checkpoint while riding a bus to Birzeit to collect letters from pen pals. In this opening reflection, Barakat is reluctant to answer questions about her childhood. Barakat was just over three years old when her family, living in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 1967, had to move because of the war. In addition to her mother and father, Barakat has two older brothers, Basel and Muhammad, and an infant sister Maha.
Barakat and her family fled their home to escape the Israeli bombing at the start of the war, and the narrative follows their journey to Amman, Jordan. During frequent moves to different shelters, including closed schools and homes generously shared to ease their plight, Barakat affectionately tempers the difficulties and terror of daily life with her love of Alef and Alef’s friends, the alphabet, and the education she desperately wishes to pursue.
The final section of the book is a response to the opening letter, returning the narrative to 1981. This brief letter reflects the cathartic effect of her recollection of her early childhood, a response to ideas posed in the opening letter. A poem gracefully completes the narrative.
This Kindle edition includes historical notes about the conflict. There is a list of recommended books relevant to Mideast issues, in addition to other web sites and organizations dedicated to resolving the complex issues of this difficult region.
Reviews suggest a grade level of seven and higher. The narrative provides opportunities to explore themes related to the Six Days’ War, and the larger issues pertaining to Mideast conflict. Since the narrative is eloquent and avoids extreme language, some 5th or 6th grade students may find it to be a suitable introduction to the topic. There are many rich examples of Palestinian culture, providing opportunities to explore traditions unfamiliar to some readers. There is one section pertaining to the circumcision of Basel and Muhammad that may require sensitivity to the maturity of younger readers or parental concerns.
August 10, 2015
"Sinking in the sea
Of forgetfulness
I reach for the raft
Of remembering."
This childhood biography is told with poetic language that makes the story all the more bittersweet. While the audience is intended to be for middle school age, I think it could be the prelude to more of the story. I hope there will be more to come, more about her family, especially her mother who seemed to me an especially intriguing and complex person whose inner turmoil is only hinted at here. Also, she intersperses a few verses of poetry here and there which I think she might share more of too.
In an interview (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618...) the author captures what this book is about saying:
"Palestinian life under Israeli occupation is drenched in politics to a suffocating level. So as much as I could in Tasting the Sky, I took the narrative focus off the occupation... I consider the occupation a dehumanizing fact of Palestinian as well as Israeli lives. ...So for people living there, minimal attention is paid to one's own inner life, dreams, culture, relationships and personhood. ...I chose to aim the gaze in Tasting the Sky on what is humanizing and healing in order to break the chains that had made me live in so much fear while I was growing up."
I could not agree more that such stories are critically important in order to reverse the dehumanization and objectification of others and to accept all people as fully deserving of the same human rights we expect for ourselves. To do this, Ibtisam Barakat shares some of her inner life - her dreams as a child.
"Alef the letter,
He is the shape
Of a key
To the postal box
Of memory."
Of forgetfulness
I reach for the raft
Of remembering."
This childhood biography is told with poetic language that makes the story all the more bittersweet. While the audience is intended to be for middle school age, I think it could be the prelude to more of the story. I hope there will be more to come, more about her family, especially her mother who seemed to me an especially intriguing and complex person whose inner turmoil is only hinted at here. Also, she intersperses a few verses of poetry here and there which I think she might share more of too.
In an interview (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070618...) the author captures what this book is about saying:
"Palestinian life under Israeli occupation is drenched in politics to a suffocating level. So as much as I could in Tasting the Sky, I took the narrative focus off the occupation... I consider the occupation a dehumanizing fact of Palestinian as well as Israeli lives. ...So for people living there, minimal attention is paid to one's own inner life, dreams, culture, relationships and personhood. ...I chose to aim the gaze in Tasting the Sky on what is humanizing and healing in order to break the chains that had made me live in so much fear while I was growing up."
I could not agree more that such stories are critically important in order to reverse the dehumanization and objectification of others and to accept all people as fully deserving of the same human rights we expect for ourselves. To do this, Ibtisam Barakat shares some of her inner life - her dreams as a child.
"Alef the letter,
He is the shape
Of a key
To the postal box
Of memory."
December 9, 2014
This is a fantastically-written book that follows the life of a refugee family in a town called Rammallah during the Six-Day War which happened in 1967. The story follows the thoughts of a young girl who loves to write and imagine in order to escape the difficulties of real life. But one day, when a soldier stops her bus and orders all of the passengers off, she begins to think about the day the war started. When the girl was very young her family was caught in the middle of the Six-Day War in which they had to flee their home and become refugee. She experienced many hardships like cut and swollen feet, having to give up her only friend who was a donkey, and being forced to live with strangers until her family was able to move back to their home.
Once the family is able to return home the hardships continue. The girl is forced to give up another animal pet because the family does not have enough food to eat, she nearly drowns in an ice-trench that was occupied with soldiers before the winter came, and the pain of being sent off to an orphanage with her brothers while her parents can figure out how to care for the family. The story ends with the girl now being older and writing more letters about what she had experienced over the years and confronts the question if it would be better for her to forget, or to remember all of the hardships in her life. Absolutely amazing book that made me reflect on issues that are much bigger than a single person.
Barakat, I. (2007). Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. Canada: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
Once the family is able to return home the hardships continue. The girl is forced to give up another animal pet because the family does not have enough food to eat, she nearly drowns in an ice-trench that was occupied with soldiers before the winter came, and the pain of being sent off to an orphanage with her brothers while her parents can figure out how to care for the family. The story ends with the girl now being older and writing more letters about what she had experienced over the years and confronts the question if it would be better for her to forget, or to remember all of the hardships in her life. Absolutely amazing book that made me reflect on issues that are much bigger than a single person.
Barakat, I. (2007). Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. Canada: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2014
This book was a revealing tale of life for a Palestinian girl during the 1967 war and years following, up to 1981. I learned a lot, and having traveled to the West Bank, I was able to picture much of what she described.
I have a little hesitation using it in my classroom. There is one scene of almost sexual assault (thankfully the girl fought this off effectively). The other concern I have is that it shows the violence of life within a Muslim family; a mother overwrought with raising four - and later five - children living under occupation, and some ugliness within the community. I am not sure if this is typical or if it perpetuates stereotypes. Am I being a bit too "politically correct" here? Not sure. Maybe. It is definitely worthy of being used in a junior high classroom, but with teacher direction - discussion and clarification will aid in processing the content in this book. Kids in the USA need to know children in other parts of the world have very different struggles and obstacles.
One important message runs throughout this book - education is the key to navigating successfully through life's struggles. Ibtisam Barakat learns early on the power of words, and being able to read and write.
I have a little hesitation using it in my classroom. There is one scene of almost sexual assault (thankfully the girl fought this off effectively). The other concern I have is that it shows the violence of life within a Muslim family; a mother overwrought with raising four - and later five - children living under occupation, and some ugliness within the community. I am not sure if this is typical or if it perpetuates stereotypes. Am I being a bit too "politically correct" here? Not sure. Maybe. It is definitely worthy of being used in a junior high classroom, but with teacher direction - discussion and clarification will aid in processing the content in this book. Kids in the USA need to know children in other parts of the world have very different struggles and obstacles.
One important message runs throughout this book - education is the key to navigating successfully through life's struggles. Ibtisam Barakat learns early on the power of words, and being able to read and write.
June 3, 2008
I didn't give this a five star simply because the writing, to me, is a bit loose. I enjoyed reading it, if enjoyed is the right word. The author writes of her childhood as the Six Day war breaks out. Heart-breaking is the choices parents make under the pressures of regional discord. One wonders how many children & families simply were overwhelmed and lost to poverty, violence or despair as they were displaced and asked to re-invent their lives. I liked the tone of 'attitude' the author seemed to have as a young child. She has a strong, determined character. This was written not as an indictment against Israel or war, per se, but as hope for all to come to want to understand the confusion of refugees and to hope that we, as the quote of Philo of Alexandria says, should 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.'
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