What chance has he, though, as a (supposed) commoner? When at last he nerves himself to send her a message via carrier pigeon, she answers and the courtship is on-via “p-mail” at first, then, after he lands a job as a castle servant, face to face. Raised by a kindly forest troll, Christian knows little of the world beyond what he can see through his telescope, but gazing upon a nearby castle, he falls head over heels for Princess Marigold. 10 & up)Ĭold indeed is the heart not made warm by this bubbly fairy-tale romance. (bibliography, sources and photo credits, index) (Nonfiction.

Still, there’s plenty of rich fodder here for equestriennes and those interested in Western or women’s history. The straight-shooting if not rip-snorting reportage is at its best when contextualizing the cowgirl in America’s social history and less effective when it, as it often does, devolves into a dizzying litany of names and nicknames. Hats off, indeed! Abundant photographs, rodeo programs and primary-source quotations from Wild West pioneers bring this invitingly designed cowgirl chronicle to life, from 19th-century trailblazers who came West in covered wagons to dime-novel outlaws Belle Starr and Calamity Jane to modern-day cowgirls such as 60-year-old Cowgirl Hall of Famer Jan Youren (who still rides bareback in rodeos) and Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who grew up on a Texas ranch. There’s nothing like seeing a tenacious cowgirl wrangle a bronco to buck notions of a weaker sex-so it makes sense that suffrage came to the American West first, 51 years before the 19th Amendment would grant women the right to vote in the rest of the country. (map, historical note, bibliography) (Nonfiction. A compassionate, insightful family and cultural portrait. The injustices that rankle come at the hands of parents and teachers, not broader geopolitical realities. Courageous and curious, but by no means always well-behaved, Ibtisam and her brothers find ways to assert their strong wills in defiance of the authorities that govern their lives. In an overcrowded Jordanian school-room housing refugees, Ibtisam discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arab alphabet, and a key unlocking the magical world of written words. Yet life goes on, by turns surprising, funny, heartbreaking and rich with possibility. The family endures poverty, separations and frequent relocation.

This beautifully written memoir of the author’s childhood on the Israeli-occupied West Bank unfolds against a harsh backdrop of war and cultural displacement.

Desperate hours will elapse before the family is reunited. Three-year-old Ibtisam, hunting frantically for a shoe, loses her family as they join the throng of anxious Palestinians fleeing Ramallah into Jordan. It’s the first night of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Arab countries.

Tasting the sky a palestinian childhood