Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Annelie Geissler
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational

OTHER WORDS FOR HOME

Jasmine Warga

Jude never thought she'd be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind her, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her home town start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

America, like every other place in the world, is a place where some people sleep and some people - other people - dream. 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 U.S. 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 just might 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. Jasmine Warga is 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. This is her first novel for middle-grade readers.

Available products
Book Published 2019-05-07 by Balzer + Bray/ HarperCollins

Comments

Jasmine Warga's exceptional middle grade debut is a moving story about family, belonging, and the difficulty of straddling two cultures. Told in sure, thoughtful verse, Warga skillfully draws parallels between the political and social climates of both Syria and the U.S. through the eyes of an insightful and relatable main character, Jude.

OTHER WORDS FOR HOME was named a Best Children's Book of 2019 by Forbes magazine. Read more...

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.

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. Chocked 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.

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.

In the first pages of the book, publisher Alessandra Balzer shares some of Jasmine Warga's personal experiences that shaped the writing of this this gentle-hearted, unusual story: ...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...

OTHER WORDS FOR HOME was named a Newbery Honor Book of 2020, a high honor in the children's book world.

There are so many reasons to read this novel. It's a book about kindness, for one; it sings, for another, as any good verse novel should. Verse novels are coming into vogue, and Jude's voice is heightened by Warga's decision to write her story this way. Read more...

Arabic: Noon Books ; China: Beijing Yutian ; Czech: Argo ; Vietnam: VanViet

[T]his powerful middle grade novel explores the complicated concepts of war and corruption, home, family, belonging. Read more...

Other Words for Home is like a family recipe. At the beginning you know that this is cared for, curated, and passed down. There is an heirloom quality to this story and yet it is fresh and modern. Jude's immigrant story is rich and light and full of personality. At the end, Jude has developed her own sense of home; she is at home with herself. This is not just an immigrant story - it's a LIFE story.

Rhythmic lines distill Jude's deepest emotions... Warga (My Heart and Other Black Holes) 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 dolove, understanding, safety, a chance at happiness.' Read more...

A story about war and displacement, resilience and adjustment. 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... Poetic, immersive, hopeful. Read more...

OTHER WORDS FOR HOME is on the New York Times middle grade hardcover bestseller list at #8 this week! Read more...

author interview "I feel like we live in a world, and, specifically, a country, where art for art's sake is a luxury for those whose rights and freedoms aren't under attack. I used to be embarrassed that my books always included some sort of message or call to action, but recently I've decided to lean into this idea of writing as activism. I'm very mindful of the fact I've been given a platform that so many people of my cultural and religious heritage aren't given, and I intend to use my voice in the best way that I can. Of course, I want to write beautiful and compelling books, but I also feel a duty to write books that inspire young readers to choose kindness and empathy in the most radical of ways." Read more...

Other Words for Home is a gorgeously written middle grade novel with words that soar off the page. Told in stunning verse and featuring an effortlessly lovable narrator, this book will be a staple of middle grade shelves for years to come.