Status
Available
Publication
Balzer Bray (2019), 352 pages
Library's review
Astory 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. Living in a tourist town on the Syrian coastline, Jude experiences the inequalities in her society firsthand. With
Poetic, immersive, hopeful. (Historical verse fiction. 11-adult)
-Kirkus Review
Warga portrays with extraordinary talent the transformation of a family’s life before and after the war began in Syria. Living in a tourist town on the Syrian coastline, Jude experiences the inequalities in her society firsthand. With
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the unfolding of the Arab Spring, her older brother, Issa, wants to join protests against the Syrian regime. The parents are in favor of staying out of it, but with news of a new baby and nearby towns turning into battlegrounds, Jude and her mother travel to join her uncle, a medical doctor, and his family in the American Midwest. Her free-verse narration cuts straight to the bone: “Back home, / food was / rice / lamb / fish / hummus / pita bread / olives / feta cheese / za’atar with olive oil. / Here, / that food is / Middle Eastern Food. / Baguettes are French food. / Spaghetti is Italian food. / Pizza is both American and Italian, / depending on which restaurant you go to.” Jude, who has always loved American movies, shares her observations—often with humor—as she soaks everything in and learns this new culture. Only when she starts feeling comfortable with having two homes, one in Syria and one in the U.S., does a terrible incident make her confront the difficult realities of being Muslim and Arab in the U.S.Poetic, immersive, hopeful. (Historical verse fiction. 11-adult)
-Kirkus Review
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Awards
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 2022)
Massachusetts Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2022)
Sequoyah Book Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2021)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Nominee — 2022)
Great Stone Face Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Utah Beehive Book Award (Nominee — Children's Fiction — 2021)
Sasquatch Book Award (Nominee — 2022)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Junior — 2022)
William Allen White Children's Book Award (Nominee — Grades 6-8 — 2022)
Newbery Medal (Honor Book — 2020)
Nutmeg Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2024)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Iowa Teen Award (Nominee — 2022)
Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — Middle Grade & Young Adult Literature — 2020)
Bluestem Award (Nominee — 2022)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — 2022)
California Young Reader Medal (Nominee — 2022)
Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award (Nominee — 2022)
Truman Readers Award (Nominee — 2022)
NCSLMA Battle of the Books (Middle School — 2021)
Virginia Readers' Choice (Nominee — Middle School — 2022)
Middle East Book Award (Winner — Youth Literature — 2020)
Flicker Tale Award (Nominee — Middle Readers — 2021)
Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award (Honor — 2020)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2021)
Azia Books Diversity Award (Listed)
Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Nominee — 2022)
Three Stars Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grades — 2020)
Arab American National Museum Book Award (Honorable Mention — Children's/Young Adult — 2020)
Ignyte Award (Shortlist — Middle Grade — 2020)
Rhode Island Middle School Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Maine Student Book Award (2021)
Charlotte Huck Award (Honor — 2020)
Friends of American Writers Award (Juvenile Book — 2020)
NCTE Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels (Verse Novels — 2020)
NPR: Books We Love (2019)
CCBC Choices (2020)
Read Aloud Indiana Book Award (Middle Grades — 2021)
Great Reads from Great Places (Ohio — 2021)
Notable Children's Book (Older Readers — 2020)
Nerdy Book Award (2019)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Children's Books — 2019)
Idaho Battle of the Books (2022)
El día de los niños / El día de los libros (6-8 — 2020)
Project LIT Book Selection (Middle Grade — 2020)
Texas Lone Star Reading List (2020)
OYAN Book Rave (2020)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Fiction for Older Readers — 2019)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2019
ISBN
0062747800 / 9780062747808
Other editions
Other Words for Home: A Newbery Honor Award Winner by Jasmine Warga (Paperback)