Search for ‘verse novels for middle-grade readers’, and Other Words for Home is bound to come up. It’s a Newbery Honor Book and a New York Times bestseller. However, just like I said when I reviewed Red, White and Whole, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read yet another immigration story.
And perhaps that was why it fell short for me. I’ve read too many of these – Inside Out and Back Again, In the Beautiful Country and Red, White and Whole come to mind immediately. While Other Words for Home is a sweet story, I was not drawn into it the way I was into the last two.
When unrest begins to mount in Syria, Jude’s family makes a decision. Jude and her mother will move to America, where her uncle lives. But her father and brother stay back. And so begins the story of a family divided by the ocean, struggling to figure out what home is. Jude sometimes feels like her mother doesn’t want her to be happy in America because every time she is impressed by something, her mother is quick to point out that things were equally impressive back home. When Jude confronts her mother about this, she learns how afraid her mother is that the girl will forget home even as she makes a new one for herself.
A sensitively told story with a relatable protagonist, Other Words for Home is about the struggle to balance the past and the present. In fact, it is all about balances – guilt and gratitude, fear and hope, finding family and losing family. I loved the themes of the story and the optimism that underlines the telling of it. More, I rejoiced in the verse form of the novel, a form that makes it succinct yet powerful.
| Title | Other Words for Home |
| Author | Jasmine Warga |
| Tags | Middle Grade, Verse Novel, Immigration |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Ages | 10+ |
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