I loved the juxtaposition of this and how it was written and wrapped in so much authentic emotion, and how it gives a meaningful and personal examination of why moving away and change is not easy, particularly when you have to leave your content life and leave your home, but also sometimes absolutely necessary. Other Words for Home meaningfully explores change when Jude has to uproot her happy and comfortable life in Syria (and the way Warga captures the contentment and nostalgia of home in all its beauty and love was so nostalgic that it still make my heart ache) to escape the encroaching war to America, a world completely different to what she knows. Warga’s ability to write about and explore change was stunning, and I am still in awe today. An emotional story about change and moving away

But, just in case you need some convincing, here are five reasons why I think you should read Other Words for Home.ġ. I firmly believe that everyone should read this book – even if you don’t read middle-grade, even if you don’t read books in verse. However, it is also an emotional story about regrowing your roots finding yourself, and finding hope. Separated from her beloved father and brother, this thoughtful story reflects on the changes in her life, on being apart from the ones you love and the ache of separation. Told entirely in verse, Other Words for Home is a middle-grade book that follows Jude, a Muslim Syrian girl who, with her mother, escapes to America when things at home in Syria grow tense, violent, and uncertain.

Have you ever read a book that made you just… roll in bed after finishing it, the book clutched to your chest, and just sighed deeply because the book was so achingly beautiful and hopeful? Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga is such a book, and it is one of my favourite books of 2019.

Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is. But this life also brings unexpected surprises-there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US-and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.Īt first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria.

Other words for home review