Ibtisam Barakat

Welcome message From Palestinian-American author Ibtisam Barakat ابتسام بركات

"Ahlan" أهلا to all readers. Ahlan is an Arabic word meaning "welcome, for all people are one family." And شكرا "shukran", thank you, for reading my memoirs:

TASTING THE SKY, a Palestinian Childhood, and

BALCONY ON THE MOON, Coming of Age in Palestine.

I hope that you love them.Tasting the Sky and Balcony on the Moon are stand-alone companions. One can be read without the other. However Balcony on the Moon continues the story started in Tasting the Sky. Professional readers gave both books starred reviews. And together the two memoirs are winners of more than thirty awards and honors, including:

International Reading Association's Best Non-Fiction for YA

IRA teachers Choice Award,

IRA Book for a Global Society

Middle East Outreach Council Best Literature Book Award

USBBY Outstanding International Book

Arab-American National Museum Book Award for YA and children

Cybils (Bloggers) Best Non-Ficiton for YA and Children Book Award

American Library Association Notable Book honor

New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

Tasting the Sky is now available in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Farsi and several formats including Hardcover, paperback, Scholastic edition, electronic, and edition for the visual special needs.

Visit my website: ibtisambarakat.com for more resources such as interviews with the author, poems, how to say the author name, TEDx talk on Ibtisam's love for languages and more.

* Ibtisam Barakat is currently working on her third memoir -- of the college years. So if you loved TASTING THE SKY and BALCONY ON THE MOON, you can expect to have another book by Ibtisam Barakat. Have a beautiful day all readers and everyone. May this world grow in kindness and beautiful humanness with every word read, said, and understood.

Signed,

Author Ibtisam Barakat الكاتبة ابتسام بركات