Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

 I’m reading this beautiful book by Jasmine Warga, “Other Words for Home,” for Malala’s Book Club.

The main character is Jude.

This is what the summary on the flap of the book’s inside cover says about her:

Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US - and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises - there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude just might try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

This lyrical, life-affirming story is about losing and finding home and, most important, finding yourself.

On page 237 and 238, there are these words about one of Jude’s teachers, Mrs. Ravenswood, who is one of the only Americans who doesn’t act suspicious when Jude chooses to wear a hijab out of respect for her Muslim faith.

“Hello, Jude,

she says.

Good morning.

You look nice

today.

There is an Arabic proverb that says:

She makes you feel

like a loaf of freshly baked bread.

It is said about

the nicest

kindest 

people.

The type of people

who help you

rise. 

Oh the simplicity and wonder in these words and actions!

They remind me of a part of the poem Red Brocade by Naomi Shihab Nye in her book 19 Varities of Gazelle - 

“Arabs used to say,

When a stranger appears at your door,

feed him for three days

before asking who he is,

where he’s come from,

where he’s headed.

That way, he’ll have strength

enough to answer.

Or, by then you’ll be

such good friends

you don’t care.”

May we make people “feel like a loaf of freshly baked bread” and feed a stranger who comes to our doors for three days...to help the stranger become our friend.

Here is a small story I wrote for the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center about one of my 4th grade students who is one of my many Judes.

https://www.scjustice.org/i-send-tomas-to-you/