Palestinian author Ibtisam Barakat "...and the world is at heart playful..."

Ibtisam Barakat 

I went to buy something and the lady behind the counter pulled out the newspaper from a month or so ago and asked me if I would sign my name next to the article about me as a Palestinian author :):) She has been keeping the newspaper until I showed up . . I have signed books and shoes and extended arms and necks and small pieces of paper including napkins and even chests for teenagers, but today I signed the newspaper for a lady doing paper work behind a counter :):) I did not have to show my ID . . This makes me laugh . . . I feel like a child each time such thing happens . . and I feel that all people are children . . . and the world is at heart playful . . .
Poet and author Ibtisam Barakat 2012 

Tasting the Sky

 Winner, Arab American National Museum Book Award for Children's/YA Literature, among other awards and honors.

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.