Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

For 12-year-old Jude, life was happy and pleasant growing up in a tourist town by the sea in Syria. She was part of a loving family consisting of her father, mother, and older brother Issa and best friend Fatima lived next door. Both girls loved TV and American movies and wanted to be movies stars someday. But when the Arab Spring begins, and Issa joins the protest movement against the Syrian government, the life that Jude loves begins to change as well. Throughout Syria, towns are under siege and the people living in them are fleeing as fast as they can.

And although Jude's parents choose to not get involved with the protests, when it's learned that her mother is pregnant, a decision is made: Jude and her mother will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio and stay with her mother's brother and his family.

Jude and her mother are welcomed by her Uncle Mazin and Aunt Michelle, but cousin Sarah makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with Jude and is annoyed that they are even there: "She can't go to my school, Mom, Sarah says./She doesn't even speak English, she says./I spend the rest of that night/locked in the bathroom,/whispering to myself in the mirror./I speak English."

When school begins, Sarah hangs out with her friends, leaving Jude to figure out 7th grade and get by on her own. She is put into an ESL class, where she meets other students from Korea, China Somalia, also new and English learners. At first resentful, she comes to think of it a welcome part of her day, a place where she can relax and laugh.

Eventually, Jude discovers a Middle Eastern restaurant that feels and smells like home, run by the Lebanese parents of an older girl from school named Layla - finally a new friend.

As she adjusts to life in America, and her English improves, Jude decides to try out for a part for the school's production of Beauty and the Beast. Layla thinks she should work behind the scenes creating sets, but Jude wants to be on stage. So do Sarah and her friends. But when Jude gets a small speaking part in the school's production, will it be the thing that causes her to lose her friendship with Layla and all she has worked so hard to accomplish so far?

Jude is a wonderful character, she has, as the teacher in charge of the school play puts it, punch, liters of punch. When she leaves Syria, her brother tells her to "Be brave" and that is exactly what she tries to do in a place where she is so different from the other people. And she does it despite worrying about her father and brother back in Syria, despite not receiving a response to the letters she continuously sends to Fatima, and despite not always have support from her mother, and no help from her cousin.

Other Words for Home is an insightful verse novel that interrogates ideas about identity, and home. In Syria, Jude was just a girl, but in America, she is labelled "a Middle Eastern girl./A Syrian girl./A Muslim girl." And does leaving Syria mean she must give up thinking about it as home in order to find a home in the United States? Sadly, it will take a terrible act of racism for Jude to find the answer to that question.

Jude's story is divided into five parts, each one chronicling a different milestone in her journey as she struggles to understand who she is. Warga has captured all of Jude's emotional up and downs, her successes, her disappointments, and her fears in beautiful, lyrical free verse that feels so intimate, it is as though Jude has taken you into her confidences.

Other Words for Home is a story about family, hope, and dealing with the world on your own terms. It's a story that should not be missed.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

The Boy At the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf, illustrated by Pippa Curnick

It's three weeks after the beginning of a new school year and suddenly there's a new boy named Ahmet sitting in what had up until then been an empty seat. But while he may be a student in Mrs. Khan's class, he doesn't ever participate, nor does he go to lunch or out into the schoolyard with the other kids. No one knows where he goes during lunch break, so naturally all kinds of wild rumors abound. And although the narrator Alexa, age 9, keeps making friendly overtures to Ahmet, it is to no avail. But when Alexa and her friends Josie, Tom, and Michael overhear teachers talking about Ahmet, they learn he is a refugee kid and that no one speaks his language.

The school finally brings in a class assistant to work with Ahmet. Meanwhile, Alexa and her friends keep trying to be friends with him, until finally Ahmet is allowed to go out and play in the schoolyard with the other kids. And imagine their delight when they discover he can kick a mean football/soccer ball - well, everyone except Brandon the class bully who hates everyone who's different.

Little by little, Ahmet's story comes out and the kids learn that his family had had to escape Syria when the fighting there began, and that his baby sister had drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and that he had somehow become separated from his parents and doesn't know where they are.

Alexa's father had passed away when she was little, and now her mother has to work long hours, so she has some idea of how Ahmet must be missing his parents. She also learns that her Austrian grandmother had had to escape the Nazis in WWII and that she had then worked to help other escape, too. All of which is why, when she overhears that the border is closing in a week and the United Kingdom won't be accepting any more refugees, she and her friends decide to do something about reuniting Ahmet with his parents.

When the first plan Alexa, Tom, Josie, and Michael come up doesn't produce results, Alexa come up with "the Greatest Idea in the World." This plan consists of getting a letter to the Queen explaining Ahmet's situation, the urgency of reuniting him with his parents before it's too late, and asking for her help. After putting the plan into action, the kids end up becoming front page news in the newspapers and on television. All of this bring the plight of refugees to the fore, which is good, and it also brings out people's true feelings - both positive and negative - about the refugee crisis.

Narrated in the first person by a very empathic Alexa, this is a book that looks at the refugee crisis with humor but does not skirt the serious problems faced by refugees. From learning a new language, to making friends, fighting off bullies, dealing with those who dislike and resent all refugees, to mourning the loss of his sister, missing and worrying about his parents and homesickness, Raúf has written a moving middle grade story that highlights the kinds of things Ahmet, and all refugees, must deal with.

Some may feel that this book is too British for American readers, but I don't think that should be a problem for today's readers, and that's not what's important. What is important is Ahmet's story shows what a difference friends can make in the life of a scared child. This is a warmhearted, feel good story that ends on a very hopeful note, but in case you are afraid it is just another "white savior" story, check page 231 first.

I should say that when I read The Boy At the Back of the Class, I had no idea what the narrator's gender is. Her name doesn't appear until the end of the book. And it was kind of fun not knowing, but unfortunately, it has been used in reviews and I followed suit. I feel like this is a spoiler, but I hope I can be forgiven.

Raúl has included some important back matter to help you readers learn and understand more about refugees. Among other things, there are questions to think about and an interesting chart to fill out. Do read the Author's Note for some important background that lead to the creation of The Boy At the Back of the Class.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was bought for my personal library

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

Escape from Aleppo by N. H. Senzai

It’s October 2013 and explosions from barmeela, bombs packed with shrapnel, are being dropped from helicopters by the Syrian army on Aleppo’s Salaheddine neighborhood where Nadia Jandali, 14, lives with her family, including aunts, uncles, and cousins. It’s time carry out their plan to leave the civil-war torn city and head for the Turkish border. But before they even get out of the parking lot, their apartment building is hit. Nadia, caught on the stairs, is knocked unconscious and buried under debris, so when her cousin Malik looks for her, he doesn’t find her.

Waking up later, Nadia realizes her family has left and decides to go to the dental clinic where they had agreed to head to. But it’s a long way, and the streets are unsafe. After walking for hours and getting lost, Nadia takes shelter in a destroyed pharmacy where she meets Ammo Mazan, a frail old man traveling with a cart and a donkey named Jamila. He offers to take her to the dental clinic, though Nadia isn’t sure if she should trust him. 

Taking detours around the bombed out city, Nadia and Ammo Mazen finally reach the clinic, only to find it deserted. A note left for her there says her father will wait for Nadia at the Oncupinar border crossing between Syria and Turkey, and Ammo Mazen agrees to take Nadia to the border. Looking for shelter that will accommodate the cart and Jamila, the two make their way to an orphanage, where they find two young boys. After resting, they leave and the youngest boy, Basel, 8, goes with them, though Tarek, 15, decides to remain behind, waiting for the mother who gave him up.

As they travel north towards the Turkish border, Ammo Mazen makes various stops which reveal the kind of covert activities he has been up to even as his health continually begins to fail him. Eventually, Tarek rejoins the group. As their journey becomes more and more difficult due to the physical destruction of the country from constant bombing and shelling and the different warring factions found everywhere, Ammo Mazen’s health gets worse and worse, finally leaving him unconscious most of the time, and leaving the children to their own devices. Eventually, he must be left in the care of a healer, while the children, along with Jamila and the cart, make their way to the Oncupinar border crossing. And though Nadia does see her father on the other side, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Basel, Tarek, and Jamila now.

Escape from Aleppo is a book I wanted to read from the moment I first read about it and it is a fascinating story. Told in the third person from Nadia’s point of view, readers learn about what is happening in Syria from her, as she eavesdrops on the conversations of the adults around her, and begins to pay more attention to current events on television. She must also deal with some serious PTDS issues, afraid to leave her home after an earlier bombing incident that left her with a painful scar on one of her legs.

I paid close attention to what was happening in the Middle East once the Arab Spring began, and I think Senzai does an incredible job of folding in the history of those days, the later Syrian Civil War with the life of a young Syrian girl that time. Using strategically placed flashbacks, Nadia is at first shown to be a typical tween, more interested in watching Arab Idol on TV than she is in school, a girl who fixes her nail polish at the first sign of a chip. Yet, as she recalls her life and family, she begins to develop a new appreciation for them. And as Nadia travels through the now destroyed Aleppo and surrounding areas, she continually calls up memories of places she visited with family in happier times - the Palmyra Boulangerie, dress shops, mosques, the extensive world-famous 1,300 year old souq, the massive Citadel where her family picnicked - now all damaged, completely destroyed, and/or occupied, making Nadia aware that she not only has (hopefully just temporarily) lost her family, but has also lost the cultural and intellectual artifact's of her beloved country’s long history. 

Escape from Aleppo is so much more than a coming of age story. At first, impatient with Ammo Mazen’s slowness and the necessary stops he must make, Nadia develops into a more compassionate, more take charge young lady able to comfort Basel with tales from an ancient copy of Alef Layla (One Thousand and One Nights), and to put Ammo Mazen’s needs over her own desires to get to Turkey, all over the course of just a few days, but a lifetime of experience.  Thus, Escape from Aleppo is a story about empathy, hope, kindness and survival in the midst of war, as well as a harsh reminder of how quickly lives and history can be changed by those in power with an agenda.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an ARC sent to me by the author