Parents' Guide to

Other Words for Home

By Lucinda Dyer, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Hopeful, relatable story of Syrian refugee in middle school.

Book Jasmine Warga Coming of Age 2019
Other Words for Home Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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age 10+

Based on 2 parent reviews

egilloon
egilloon Adult
June 23, 2019
age 10+

Beautiful inside and out

I read this book in a couple of days. I could barely put it down. I am a 4th / 5th grade reading teacher, and I think this would be a great book for my students to read to gain a window into a world of which they are very unfamiliar. There are great lesson's about seeing another person's viewpoint and seeing her for who she is, not thinking you know a person based on her clothing, skin color, the food she eats, or cultural and religious practices of her family. There are a couple brief mentions of Jude and a friend getting their first periods, but this would be a great opportunity for parents to talk about this milestone with young readers.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
1 person found this helpful.
Erin M
Erin M Parent of 5 and 9-year-old
April 22, 2023
age 9+

Great book - requires a bit of guidance

I read this book with my 8 year and it is so beautiful (I often read ahead because I enjoyed the style so much). She’s an excellent reader, and this book is easy to read in terms of level, but the prose is so spare that it requires a lot of higher level thinking. Think House on Mango Street… accessible reading but a lot of details and inferences to talk through. We ended up reading it together to talk through some aspects of the book. For example: Why would tourists stop coming to Jude’s hometown? What happened in Syria? What is Issa trying to say about Bashar al-Assad? Let’s try to infer what some of these Arabic colloquialisms mean without looking them up. Overall, it is appropriate for 8+ but heads up that there is one part where Jude talks about sneaking the movies Practical Magic and Pretty Woman (neither of which would be allowed because of witchcraft and prostitution). Trying to explain prostitution appropriately to an 8 year old was a bit of a challenge, but the rest was amazing!

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Home for 12-year-old Jude, the young Syrian refugee who tells her story in OTHER WORDS FOR HOME, has always been a city on the Mediterranean coast filled with tourists who buy candy and soft drinks from her father's shop. She loves American movies and pop music, imitates the way Reese Witherspoon speaks English, and dreams of becoming a movie star when she grows up. But Syria is descending into civil war and her brother, Issa, is leaving home to join anti-government forces fighting for democracy. When Jude's mother learns she's pregnant, her parents decide to send Jude and her mother to visit her uncle and his family who live in Cincinnati, Ohio (no one tells her for how long). Her cousin Sarah makes no effort to introduce Jude to her friends and leaves her to eat lunch alone in the school cafeteria. As she begins seveth grade, Jude finds only one other student who looks like her; a girl named Layla, whose family is from Lebanon. But she enjoys her classes, even ESL, where she's assigned after learning that her English isn't as fluent as she thought. Remembering her brother's words to her before she left Syria ("Be brave"), Jude auditions for and gets a small part in the school musical. But her joy is overshadowed by a terrorist attack in an unidentified city far away from America. Layla warns Jude she's about to learn "what it means to be a/ Muslim/ in America." Jude doesn't believe her until she starts to get "unsure" looks from fellow students and a man follows her yelling "go back to where you came from."

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2 ):
Kids say (4 ):

The poignant, inspiring, and relatable story of a young Syrian refugee discovering who she is, where she belongs, and what it means to be brave. Although Other Words for Home is written for middle graders, the serious issues addressed in the novel (the war in Syria, the place of refugees in American society, prejudice against Muslims) make it an informative read for teens as well.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the prejudice Jude faces in Other Words for Home. Why do you think it's so easy for people to judge others on how they look or how they dress?

  • How difficult is it for new students to fit in at your school? Are students quick to introduce themselves to newcomers and offer to help? What do you think is the most important thing you could do to make a new student feel welcome and accepted?

  • Have you ever been in a school play or musical? Does it take courage to try out? Would you want to be one of the actors, or would you like help with the sets or costumes?

Book Details

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