Maw Books Blog

Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat is the second book I’ve read on a recommendation from Shelf Elf, the first being The Breadwinner series by Deborah Ellis. So far Shelf Elf has great taste! I love browsing through book blogs, I have discovered so many great books that I don’t know if I would have discovered on my own. This was one of them and I’m glad I read it. What can I say about this book that Elizabeth Bird over at Fuse #8 hasn’t already said? If you seriously are interested in this book, I’d recommend heading over there as well. Wait! Not yet. Read my Tasting the Sky review first and then go read Shelf Elf’s and Fuse #8’s reviews!

Ibtisam Barakt is just three and a half when her life literally comes apart when the Six-Day War breaks out in the West Bank. One moment she is standing on the threshold of their family home where her mother is nursing her baby sister and watching her older brothers chase each other in the yard. The next moment she is face down, hiding out in a trench for fear of her life. With only moments to spare her family joins the throngs of people fleeing their country trying to cross the border of nearby Jordan. During their quick exodus, Ibtisam not only loses her shoe but also loses sight of her family. Somehow, this amazing three and a half year old walks all night and is later reunited with her family the next day.

They do manage to cross the border where they find shelter and wait out the rest of the war. Wait probably isn’t a very good word because their “waiting” consisted of pain, illness, hunger, boredom, finding work, and bearing each other’s burdens and crying with those that cried. It is here that Ibitsam finds some chalk and falls in love with letters, particular Alef, the letter A. It is through words and letters that she is able to escape inward from her horrific surroundings.

After moving from shelter to shelter, Ibtisam’s family is finally allowed to return back home. Their home is still intact but no longer feels safe as they find bullets embedded throughout the house and soon after their return, the army starts using the hill that they live on as a practice area. They live day in and day out with the sounds of gunfire all around. Feeling unsafe, her mother against her father’s wishes decides to place the children in an orphanage. After spending the school year at the orphanage, Ibtisam and her brother’s beg to be taken back home. Her parents decide to give their home one more chance. When not in school, her and her brothers spend most of their day’s exploring the hills around their homes for remnants from the soldier’s goes to school and is a stellarexercises. When a soldier threatens to rape her mother in their own home, they finally sell their house and move away for good.

This is a beautifully told memoir about the tragic hardships that no child should ever have to endure. I was ashamed at myself that I didn’t know more about the politics surrounding the Six Day War. Ibtisam doesn’t touch upon them either but keeps her memoir true by using the voice and understanding of a small child. There is a great reference library listed at the end of the book for those looking for some resources to study the larger picture.

This is one that I would highly recommend. Surprisingly, there is only one copy of Tasting the Sky in my library system. I hope that it’s more wide know elsewhere than here. I’ll end with a poem from Ibtisam Barakat about Ale, the first letter in the alphabet.

Alef the letter
Is a refugee.
From paper
To paper
He knows
No home.

Alef the letter,
He is the shape
Of a key
To the postal box
Of memory.

Alef the letter
Sits in the front
Of the bus
Os alphabets
To see.
He sees war,
He looks above it.
He looks below it
And beyond it
To see peace.

Alef knows
That a thread
Of a story
Stitches together
A wound.

 Alef the letter,
He’s the shape
Of hope.
Like me,
A refugee.

 For me,
My refuge.

You may purchase Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat from my BookWise bookstore. Also, visit Ibtisam Barakat’s website here.