Combined Review of Two Contemporary Stories: Other Words for Home and More to the Story [MG Reviews]

I struggle to review contemporary middle grade because I’m not passionate about the genre. I read these two titles because I wanted to be able to book talk them. That’s my main motivator for reading any contemporary middle grade. I want to be able to recommend good books to young readers. As I’ve been discussing in my reflections series, I want to improve my reviewing style – especially of these books that I once would have avoided reviewing all together. So here’s one attempt at reviewing two contemporary middle grade books that I read one shortly after the other. Their differences and commonalities stood out to me as a good way to compare and highlight these titles.

---

*A note on the #OwnVoices content of Other Words for Home: Levant includes modern-day Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine. Warga’s father is Jordanian; Warga is American.

Review

More to the Story and Other Words for Home star two very different Muslim girls living in America. Jam (More to the Story) is Pakistani-American; Jude (Other Words for Home) is Syrian. Jude’s story begins in Syria. Jude and her mother move to stay with family in America when Jude’s mother becomes pregnant as the war in Syria grows more dire.

Families and Fathers

One commonality between Jam and Jude is their close relationships with their families. Aunts, uncles, and cousins are key characters in each story. Jam’s Pakistani-British cousin Ali comes to stay with the family after his father dies suddenly. Ali’s ‘Britishness’ makes him an intriguing figure at school. Jude’s cousin Sarah is a born and raised American, embarrassed by Jude.

Jam and Jude struggle with being separated from their fathers. Jude’s Baba remains in Syria. Jam’s Baba has to take a job overseas to support his family. Jam’s father remains present throughout the story as the biggest supporter of her journalism. I enjoyed his sense of dad humour. I smiled in recognition at some of his actions. For example, when video chatting with Jam: “Now I can only see Baba’s forehead, the ceiling of his apartment, and some metal light fixtures.”, pg. 99.

Driven to Succeed

The main similarity between Jam and Jude is that their passions drive their stories. Jam aspires to be an award-winning journalist. Jude wants to find her place on the stage, inspired by the American movies she used to watch.

Journalism

Jam has been chosen to be the features editor for her school paper. She’s keen to write an important story about microaggressions (the paper usually covers fluffy topics). The paper’s editor shoots down that idea and assigns her to write about her cousin instead. Jam thinks she can still write a significant article by sharing Ali’s personal experiences, but Ali isn’t as keen. When Jam’s youngest sister Bisma becomes ill, Jam begins to rethink her journalistic priorities. Over the course of the story, she learns how to be a responsible journalist and what she wants to accomplish in that role.

I’ve thought a lot about what she said: how I can make a difference by writing about things that are important to the people I love and doing what I can to make them matter to other people. That’s the type of journalist I want to be.

More to the Story, pg. 256

Acting

Jude’s story unfolds over a longer timeline than Jam’s. (Jude’s mother is pregnant at the beginning and gives birth at the end.) Jude describes the experience of arriving in a foreign country with little idea of what to expect, particularly when it comes to prejudice and racism. Jude’s Muslim identity is more prominent than Jam’s. Part way through the story, Jude experiences her first period. She then begins wearing a hijab, with garners a variety of reactions from the people she encounters. Jude defies the expectations of her cousin and her friend Layla (who has experienced more of America’s racism than Jude) by trying out for and receiving a speaking part in the school’s play.

Mrs. Bloom paces the stage,
the heels of her boots echoing against the wood,
and I imagine it again:

Me, walking on that stage.
My footsteps echoing.
My voice radiating through the room.
All the eyes in the entire room focused on me.

Other Words for Home, pg. 155

Prose vs. Verse

I expect the quotes above gave away the other obvious difference between Other Words for Home and More to the Story. While both girls narrate their stories in first person, Other Words for Home is a verse novel. Warga’s writing immediately stood out to me. Some verse novels don’t have any poetry about them. Other Words for Home is all poetry. The phrasing is spare yet imbued with plenty of emotion. I read few novels-in-verse but I imagine this one is an exemplar of the form. Interesting fact: Warga originally wrote it as a prose novel, rewriting the entire book after realizing she felt too distant from Jude. Lucky for us readers!

Last Notes

It was only by reading the afterword did I learn that More to the Story is a retelling of Little Women! Although I’ve never read or seen Little Women, I can recognize some of the parallels. You might recognize more if you’ve read Little Women.

Check out this PW interview with Warga, which is where I learnt about her identity and the changing form of Other Words for Home.

The Bottom Line

Other Words for Home and More to the Story are the kind of excellent windows and mirrors books that existed in too few numbers when I was a child (not so long ago!). The genre of middle grade is only strengthened when books like these become options for young readers. I’m hopeful that we can continue to push and make way for the diverse stories ready to be shared.