Other Words for Home: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga is a book that has melted my heart. From the moment I picked up this verse novel, I was engrossed in the story and the courage of the characters. Jude, the main character, is a young girl from Syria. Her family has been separated by the unrest and violence in her country. To keep Jude and her mother safe, Jude's father has sent them both to live with an uncle in America.Life in America is challenging and scary. Jude is finding herself continually heeding her brother's words to "be brave." Taking his words to heart, Jude holds her head high as she starts school in America, meets new friends, and tries to find a balance between her life in America and her life in Syria. She even emulates his example and makes the choice to audition for the musical at her new American school. Other Words for Home is a modern-day story of immigration and bravery. It tells the story of one young girl's desire to start her new life in America while she still honors the family and life she left behind in Syria. It hits on the struggles of fitting in, learning a new language, and the realities of racism and intolerance that happens even here in America. As I was reading Other Words for Home, I got lost in the poetic words that just flowed from the pages. They were melodic and entrancing. Jasmine Warga has a talent that I would put right up there with other verse novelists, such as K.A. Holt and Kwame Alexander.The verse novel structure was done with perfection, and it was a beautiful asset to Jude's story.

𝙄𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 ⁣𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 ⁣𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜, ⁣𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜, ⁣𝙞𝙣 𝘼𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙘, ⁣𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 ⁣𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 ⁣𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮. ⁣𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 ⁣𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 ⁣𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡, ⁣𝙣𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚.⁣⁣All the stars, hugs, ice cream cones, and applause for this gorgeous, heartwarming, important, perfect, middle grade book written in free verse. ⁣⁣In her acknowledgments, Jasmine Warga said, “It wasn’t until I found Jude’s voice that the book was really born. I wrote Jude for my twelve-year-old self, who never saw a brown girl in a book who was proud of her family and where she came from. A brown girl with hopes and dreams of her own.”The voice Jasmine found for her main character, Jude, is astonishingly authentic, wonderfully observant, and filled with love and hope and strength. Jude’s voice combined with the free verse blew me away for its lack of pretension, naturalness, and profound beauty. I was worried that the free verse would feel forced, especially coming out of a twelve year old’s mouth, but instead it’s surprisingly organic and easy to read. ⁣⁣This is a Syrian refugee story that reveals what should be obvious: that refugees want what everyone wants: to be happy, to be safe, and to be themselves. ⁣⁣Jude’s story is told with humor and heart and understanding and joy. It’s possibly my favorite book I’ve read so far this year.

A beautifully written coming of age novel in verse.

Other words for Home draws you in with a unique almost poetic writing style and staccatoed paragraphs that had me jumping through each chapter. The main character is relatable and the story makes you feel like a new immigrant in a new world trying to figure out who you are.

Words cannot adequately express how much Jordanian-American author Jasmine Warga’s novel “Other Words for Home” means to me.Growing up, I never read stories about people like me or families like my own because they simply didn’t exist. Books with Arab and/or Arab-American characters, being wholly human, navigating issues of identity and belonging, interrogating what “home” means were never written. Too bad.I’m elated that that’s changing, though, and that there are Arab-Americans who are writing these stories *with such immense skill and heart.*This is the first middle grade novel I’ve read in literally decades and it just encouraged me to order many more. It is poetic and hopeful and so thoughtfully written. I can barely remember the last time I loved a character as much as I love brave and precious Jude.I cried and cheered many times along this journey.Seriously, if you work with middle graders, have middle graders, or are a lover of children’s literature yourself—YOU MUST check out this gorgeous novel in verse.The only downside (and it's a big one) is that it ends.

My child has enjoyed the book. He hates to read but has not complained bout this book

This book is well written and timely too. It can be read quickly but has a great theme well worth taking a little more time.

I bought this book for myself, but would recommend it for anyone 11+. It is a beautiful, hopeful story about a girl growing up between worlds, honoring her heritage and parents' culture while embracing her new community and breaking out into her own wonderful self. It touches on really important themes about conflict, violence, identity, hate crimes, family tensions, growing up, and more, but all with grace, honesty, and tenderness. This would be an amazing conversation starter for teens and preteens.I am not a refugee, but I grew up crossing cultures, and this story brought me to tears in all the best ways. I cannot recommend it enough!