Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Other Words for Home tells the story of Jude, a girl living in Syria at the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. Fleeing from the violence, she and her mother go to the United States to live with relatives, leaving her father and her older brother behind. At first, the America that Jude experiences is far different than the America she experienced through movies, but she begins to find her place at her new country and her new school.

Written entirely in lyric poetry, Other Words for Home is Jasmine Warga's first middle grade novel and was the recipient of numerous awards, including being a Newbery Honour Book in 2020. This book reminds us of the effects that war has on everyday people and asks the reader to reflect on what it means to belong to a place they call home.

What does home mean to you?