Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Ibtisam chooses to begin her memoir in 1981, when she is a teenager.

• How does Ibtisam using a frame narrative affect the reader? (topic sentence)
• What vital context for understanding Ibtisam’s childhood does she provide by framing it with scenes from her teenager years?
• In your conclusion, explore how Ibtisam uses framing as a literary device to explore the theme of The Loss of Childhood Innocence.

2. Ibtisam calls her brothers the “heroes of [her] childhood” (v).

• Why do you think Ibtisam feels this way about her brothers? (topic sentence)
• What are 2-3 moments in the text when Ibtisam’s brothers behaved heroically? When describing these scenes, pinpoint who is the “villain” and if Ibtisam’s brothers are the “heroes.