Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga


Our town used to be 
a place for people to laugh and enjoy
all the things that unite them like
family and sunshine and the sea and good food.
Not the things that divide them like
opinions and political loyalties.

Other words for Home is a verse novel and as is always the way with this genre it packs an emotional punch and it contains a strong, truthful, heartfelt and emotional journey for the reader. 

Publisher blurb Harper Collins: Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives. At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. 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 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. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

Poetic, immersive, hopeful. Kirkus Star review

Free Verse makes the story feel more personal and accessible for all reading levels. Reading Ladies

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and thought it was a great depiction of a student struggling in a new country. As both a mirror and a window book, this is fantastic. Ms Yingling Reads

Read some more review comments here

Awards

  • 2020 JOHN NEWBERY HONOR BOOK
  • 2020 WALTER AWARDS HONOR BOOK
  • 2020 LEE BENNET HOPKINS POETRY PRIZE HONOR
  • 2020 CHARLOTTE HUCK AWARD HONOR BOOK
  • ALSC 2020 NOTABLE BOOK
  • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
  • 2019 JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD SELECTION

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