A letter from Alessandra Balzer, editor of OTHER WORDS FROM HOME

Dear Reader,

Imagine that you are an Arab American girl who was born in the United States, and this happens:

The boy sitting across from you in science class casually says that Americans should just bomb the entire Middle East because everyone who lives there is worthless.

A friend posts a "poem" on social media that says: God made roses, God made violets, God made Arabs, God makes mistakes.

Your classmates dress up as terrorists for Halloween and introduce themselves to the class as Mohammad, which is your father's name.

These experiences - and others - happened to Jasmine Warga. When she was growing up, Jasmine saw so little positive representation of Arab American characters in books and other media that she became ashamed of her own culture. As an adult, she learned to feel proud of it again. By writing Jude in Other Words for Home, she wanted readers to see a girl who is just like them, struggling with the same issues that every middle schooler faces. But Jude has the added challenge of coming from a country that is constantly in the news and is portrayed as a violent, dangerous place. What is it like to be that girl? To leave everything and everyone you know behind to start a whole new life with relatives in the United States? To have to learn a new language and make all new friends? That is what Jude faces in this story.

I hope that by reading this bighearted, moving novel, readers will have a greater sense of empathy toward anyone who seems different . . . especially for kids all over the world who are dealing with their own struggles while trying to find their own way home.

Sincerely,

Praise for OTHER WORDS FOR HOME

⋆ this timely book... rhythmic lines distill Jude’s deepest emotions…. Warga effectively shows, as she writes in an author’s note, that “children who are fleeing from a war zone... want the same things all of us do—love, understanding, safety, a chance at happiness.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

⋆“Warga portrays with extraordinary talent the transformation of a family’s life before and after the war began in Syria.… Her free-verse narration cuts straight to the bone...  [and] confront[s] the difficult realities of being Muslim and Arab in the U.S. Poetic, immersive, hopeful.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

⋆“Warga’s middle-grade debut puts its hands around your heart and holds it, ever so gently, so that you’re aware of your own fragility and resilience: just as Jude is while her life changes drastically… Other Words for Home should find its way into every middle-grade reader’s hands.”
— ALA Booklist (starred review)

⋆“This powerful middle grade novel explores the complicated concepts of war and corruption, home, family, belonging.... Highly recommended for all libraries, this title will easily find a home next to books like Refugee by Alan Gratz and Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)

⋆"Convincing and authentic, infused with thoughtfulness, humor, determination, and hope... offers a realistic portrait of the strength it takes to move to a new country, as well as the complicated dynamics between first- and second-generation immigrants."
— The Horn Book (starred review)

“Warga situates her verse novel at a sweet spot for middle-graders…the complications of assessing whether Jude is as lucky as everyone makes her out to be ring poignantly true, and when Jude takes her place on the school stage, Warga’s audience will surely applaud.”
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “Through Jude’s eyes readers see firsthand what it is to leave behind one’s beloved home and family as many refugees do every single day. Young readers will laugh with Jude, cry with her, and root for her every step of the way. A beautiful, powerful, and necessary book for all readers.”
— Aisha Saeed, New York Times bestselling author of Amal Unbound.

“Other Words for Home is a salve for the world we live in today. It’s a hope-filled story that doesn’t pander but instead peels back layers of culture and identity, fear and prejudice, exile and belonging, all wrapped around a young Syrian girl—Jude. Checked with equal parts fear and moxie, Jude is a heart trying to figure out how to beat outside the body. I ached for, but simultaneously found that though our stories are different, I am her. This is a necessary story. We’re lucky to have it in the world.”
— Jason Reynolds, award-winning, bestselling author of Ghost and Long Way Down

About OTHER WORDS FOR HOME

A gorgeously written, hopeful middle grade novel in verse about a young girl who must leave Syria to move to the United States, perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds and Aisha Saeed.

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.

This lyrical, life-affirming story is about losing and finding home and, most importantly, finding yourself.

About the Author

Jasmine Warga is also the author of the teen books, Here We Are Now, and My Heart and Other Black Holes, which has been translated into over twenty languages. She lives and writes in Chicago, IL. You can visit Jasmine online at www.jasminewarga.com.