Also because despite moments of raw vulnerability, the book stays pretty optimistic and hopeful. I imagine this is also why the target audience is listed as 8-12 year olds, because it simplifies a truly horrific situation. A lot of the politics and war crimes occurring in Syria are not detailed, and I have to assume that is because the point of view is a 12 year old girl that is blissfully in her own world.
Truly the writing is strong and deliberate. With verse some things are highlighted in detail and other things skimmed over and yet at the end, not only do you feel like you understand Jude, but a lot of the side characters as well, which caught me off guard. I love that the style of the story telling somehow gives life to so much. As she comes of age and decides to wear hijab, as Islamaphobia shakes her sense of justice, and her little sister is born, the reader sees her grow and change and mature and find themselves hoping that she will soar. Adjusting to school, life without baba and her brother, and all the other adaptations that moving to a new country entail are brought to life through Jude’s eyes and understanding of the world around her. Her American aunt and her Uncle that seems to have forgotten his Syrian upbringing, are gracious and welcoming and their daughter, Sarah, who is less than a year older than Jude waxes and wanes in her approach to her cousin. Until a raid almost catches Jude and her brother and her parent’s decide it is time for Jude and her mother to journey to America, for a little while, to visit her mom’s brother and deliver the baby.Īmerica is not like it is in the 90’s movies that Jude loves: Pretty Woman, Legally Blond, Miss Congeniality. Until her brother starts sneaking out to meetings with other youth hoping to change the politics of their country. Until the crimes they only hear about happening in Aleppo and Damascus start to hit closer to home. With an older brother and a little sister on the way, life as told from her own perspective is pretty good. Jude is a 12 year old girl living on the beach in Syria, watching American movies with her friends and hanging out at her dad’s store. The book claims it is for middle grades, but I think middle school will appreciate it more, and I sincerely hope everyone of all ages will take a couple of hours to fall under the spell that is woven to tell a story of a refugee leaving home and starting anew in America. Three hundred and forty pages written in verse that beautifully consume you and leave you emotionally changed and vulnerable and humbled all at once.
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