Awards

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book celebrates outstanding books, authors, and literary achievement through four signature awards: The Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Best Books for Family Literacy, The Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, The Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, and Pennsylvania Great Reads from Great Places. Together, these programs recognize excellence in family literacy, children’s poetry, graphic novels, and books that reflect Pennsylvania’s rich literary heritage. By honoring exceptional literary works and connecting readers with engaging and meaningful stories, the Pennsylvania Center for the Book promotes lifelong reading, literacy, and a love of literature across the Commonwealth and beyond.

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Other Words for Home

By Jasmine Warga
Published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2019
Young Readers
Other Words for Home

Pennsylvania Center for the Book Awards

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award 2020 Honor Book

Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home calls all of us—native and refugee alike—to examine, discuss, and reaffirm our own voices through what we hold dear and where we call home. 

This beautifully written verse novel by Jasmine Warga showcases a young Syrian girl, Jude, who loves her family and home but has to leave Syria for the United States. Jude's perseverance and strength overcome her struggles with a new language, culture, and identity labels—refugee and Middle Eastern. 

This story worked in verse for me, I think, because Jude was speaking and thinking in two languages and from two worlds. The verse gave space for me to share that experience. 

This breathtaking verse novel untangles and weaves together the complexities of Jude, who deals with leaving home during the war in Syria and settling in the USA, while facing challenges related to family, language, culture, prejudice, and race. This sensitive story about resilience is a must read. 

2020 Judges