Honestly, this book makes me want to change all the other ratings I have given other books or be able to give this book ten stars. It stands alone and beyond all the other middle grade books I have read. I hope to read this with my 4th-6th graders next year.
This book speaks to any who struggle to belong and live bravely. It is a book that stirs compassion and the understanding that we are all more alike than we are different.
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Independent Reading Level: 5th grade
Awards/honors: Newbery Honor Award ( )

This book is about Jude's Journey as she adjusted to life in America after she fled her home country. During the story, readers can see the experiences of having immigrated from a different country and being refugees. They will also be able to see the challenges that some immigrants face when coming to America and trying to find a new identity and also trying to preserve their old cultural identity. In this story, the students will be able to see how refugees and immigrants coming to America for the first time face different challenges especially if English is not their first language. This is great in a classroom as we have students who are emergent bilinguals or newcomers who are adjusting to the new environment. Having a book like this helps because it shows our EB/newcomer students that they do have representation here and it allows for the other students to have a look into what our EB/newcomers are going through. ( )

Beautifully written and gripping. I really enjoyed Warga's book. ( )

From NPR: "There are so many reasons to read this novel. It's a book about kindness, for one; it sings, for another, as any good verse novel should. Verse novels are coming into vogue, and Jude's voice is heightened by Warga's decision to write her story this way. It feels true. It feels like middle school and wanting things the way you do in middle school. It feels like being in the middle of so many things and not quite knowing how to navigate that uncertainty."