They Called Me A Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight For Freedom

Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri
One World (2022)
262 pp.

In 2017, Ahed Tamimi’s story went viral after a leaked video showed her confronting Israeli soldiers who forced their way into her family’s home and shot her cousin with a steel-coated rubber bullet, severely injuring him. Tamimi then slapped one of the soldiers, which led to her arrest and detention.

In this memoir, Ahed tells us about her childhood in Nabi Salih, a village near Ramallah in the West Bank. From childhood games playing “Israeli Army vs Palestinians,” to family trips to Acre (permits awarded only because of Ramadan) she relates day-to-day experiences and pivotal moments that reflect life amidst oppression and violence.

Tamimi describes her reluctance to become an activist, her increasing militance, and the events that led to her arrest, interrogation, and detention. Through her eyes, we see the racist power dynamics within the Israeli judicial system. Her account of her time in prison is stark. She is constantly bullied by guards, both physically and psychologically. But Ahed and the other detainees hold classes in their shared cell to continue their education, empowering and inspiring one another.

Overall, this book does an excellent job of exposing the oppression of Palestinians in the grip of Israeli apartheid and the resilience of youth and their families. The early chapters, in particular, contain substantial contextual information that may be challenging for some students without scaffolding.

Grade Level: High school and up

Baddawi

By Leila Abdelrazaq
(Just World Books, 2015)
125 pgs.

Baddawi, which means bedouin or nomad in Arabic, is the name of Ahmad’s refugee camp in Lebanon. Ahmad, who is the author/illustrator’s father, grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp in Northern Lebanon because his parents were forced out of Palestine in 1948. This accessible graphic novel does a good job of describing one long-term impact of the Nakba on Palestinians forced into diaspora. With humor and empathy, the story focuses on Ahmad and the trials he faces as a child and youth, how he copes with the harsh reality of his situation, and what he makes of it. Eventually he decides to put all his energy and time into his education in order to escape the death and violence that surround him. The story ends as Ahmad heads to the United States to continue his education.

Most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, even generations later, are barred from citizenship and are prevented by Lebanese law from working and from public education. This creates an opportunity for discussions of the extent to which refugees to the United States are or are not integrated into US society.

Grade Level: High school and above

Jerusalem Chronicles From The Holy City

By Guy Delisle
(Darwin & Quarterly, 2012)
336 pg.

Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City is a travelogue in the form of a graphic novel. The author/illustrator spends a year living in Beit Hanina near Jerusalem with his family. While his wife works for Doctors Without Borders, Delisle explores the area and takes care of his young children. Delisle is very much the curious but uninvolved outsider, creating vignettes of his experiences with Palestinians and Israelis as he tries to understand life in the West Bank. Through his eyes, we share his initial encounters with checkpoints, curfews, and other human rights abuses. We see how different Hebron looks when the guide is an Israeli settler or when it is a Palestinian resident. Although Delisle never takes an explicit position on Israel’s impact on Palestinian life, we gradually see that Palestinians are living under a system of apartheid rule.

Delisle’s wife, whose experiences as a medical worker in Gaza could have provided sharp insights into life there under the siege, has essentially no voice in the book. This prompts the reader to realize that women’s voices are largely missing throughout the book. What information and insights are we missing because we only hear from men?

Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City provides an opportunity for students to decide what they think about Palestine/Israel as Delisle describes incident on incident of life in cities and villages throughout the West Bank. In this way, it’s a nonthreatening introduction to the subject. However, in addition to the dearth of women’s voices, there is nothing in the book about Palestinian resistance and few explicit descriptions of Palestinian resilience. For serious study, Jerusalem needs ancillary videos, articles and activities to provide context, history, and analysis.

Grade Level: High school and above

Tasting the Sky

By Ibtisam Barakat
(RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 2007)
172 pgs.

Tasting the Sky is Ibtisam Barakat’s memoir of her experiences as a child forced into exile in Jordan by Israel’s 1967 war against Jordan, Egypt, Syria and the people of Palestine. Ibtisam is only three years old when the war starts; her childhood is defined by her family’s efforts to find safety in Jordan and then back in Ramallah.

The book is a compelling story that will engage students. The first chapter, however, starts in 1981, when an adult Ibtisam is stopped at a checkpoint between Ramallah and Birzeit. This can be confusing to young readers; we suggest starting with the second chapter of the book. Tasting the Sky is an accessible entry point to an often neglected section of Palestinian history.

Unlike the rest of the book, the “Historical Note” that introduces the book leans toward equating the responsibility for resolving the “conflict,” as if Palestinians and Israelis have played equivalent roles in creating the current situation. This creates an opportunity for encouraging critical thinking among students. After reading Tasting the Sky, what do they think justice looks like?

Grade Level: High school and above