Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Other Words for Home is a novel in verse written for ages 9 to 12. It was a Newbery Honor book in 2020 and I will be reviewing it as middle-grade novel in verse.

Other Words for Home tells the story of 12-year-old Jude, a Syrian refugee who moves to Ohio, USA with her pregnant mother, where they move in with Jude's uncle and his family, leaving her brother, father, and best friend behind.

I chose to read this book because it was a Newbery Honor Book, and because of my ongoing fascination with immigration, multiculturalism, and how identity and a sense of self are formed.

In this review I will be evaluating the experience of reading this book digitally, characters, and setting.

I read a digital copy of Other Words for Home. I typically prefer reading eBooks because they are so convenient. I always have my smartphone with me, so when I read an eBook, I always have my book with me as well. Additionally, eBooks give readers additional ways to engage with text beyond straight reading. I enjoy looking up unfamiliar words, highlighting well-written or meaningful passages, and translating text written in languages other than English. This was especially useful in Other Words for Home, where some Arabic words and phrases were used. Because Other Words for Home is a novel in verse, I think I would have enjoyed it best as an audiobook, my new preferred method for consuming poetry. However, I did appreciate the comprehension tools built into eReading apps (I read with the Kindle App) as I read Other Words for Home. 

In discussing characters, the relationships in Other Words for Home are well-written and useful for observing Jude's growth throughout the novel. Jude's relationship with her Mama is a good example of this. This relationship starts with a typical, healthy mother-and-daughter relationship. Jude respects her mother, wants to grow up to be more like her, and loves her deeply. While there is some tension between the two, it is minor. However, this relationship faces its first major challenge when Mama tells Jude that they will be immigrating to the United States, leaving her father and brother behind in Syria. Jude is initially angry at this suggestion and wants to stay with her father and brother if the family cannot all leave together, but she accepts the decision when Mama tells Jude that she is pregnant and will need Jude to help her through the transition because of the pregnancy. This is the first major shift in Jude and her Mama's relationship, where Jude is placed in a position where she is the one caring for her mother. This role reversal continues as (1) Mama's pregnancy progresses and so her need for physical support grows and (2) Jude is able to transition to life in America with much greater ease than her Mama. While Mama struggles with English, Jude's English is good when she arrives in Ohio and improves quickly.  While Mama doesn't like to leave her new home, Jude attends school and enjoys opportunities to explore all that is n about life in America. Finally, while Mama is standoffish with her brother's wife Michelle, Jude embraces her American aunt fully, accepting their similarities, their differences, and Michelle's love. Jude's ability to adapt to life in America and to find her place within it allows her to grow while Mama's character stays largely stunted. Furthermore, when Mama does begin to adapt to life in America, this change takes place under Jude's guidance, following Jude's example. Thus, we again see Jude as a maturing caretaker of a more dependent mother. This is not to say that Mama's character is weak, by any means, only that the transition to life in America experienced by Mama versus that experienced by Jude is cleverly used by Warga as a supporting device to show Jude's growth in Other Words for Home.

Finally, setting. While Other Words for Home is not the first book I have read about the conflict in Syria, it is likely the first introduction many children aged 9 to 12 have to the devastating warfare and refugee crisis there. Thus, I do think it would have been beneficial for Warga to have included some level of introduction to the conflict for young readers within the book, so that they might better understand the setting that Jude and Mama flee in the novel. Having said that, the book is written for a young audience and does resonate as a story about refugees, finding self, and coming of age, even without more concrete details of what is happening in Syria. I also appreciate how much time Warga took to paint Jude's life and home as normal and relatable before Jude's life was uprooted due to the Syrian Civil War. Though Jude is a foreigner, she is not written as a character that young American readers would find foreign. She has a nice family and a best friend, is neither rich nor poor, hates fish, and loves singing and 90s movies. Her life is relatable, and so she is relatable. This is important because by building such a strong setting for Jude to live in before her life is transformed by war, Warga makes sure that her readers can see themselves in Jude. She writes a peer for her readers rather than writing a character who exists to be pitied. If Other Words for Home is a young person's first, and perhaps only, glimpse into what it means to be Syrian or a Syrian immigrant then it matters that Syria is written as a beautiful place facing temporary conflict, rather than as conflict itself.

Warga, J. (2019) Other words for home. Balzer + Bray.