Curious about Contemporary Realism

 

Image source: Harper Collins

Warga, Jasmine. Other Words for Home. 2019. 352 pages. LP: $19.99, ISBN: 9780062747808. Ages 8-12.

What is it like to be a child in a country that no longer feels safe, to uproot from your home, leaving everything familiar, including family, behind? I have wondered this because my father did just that in the 1960s, escaping with fabricated documents to Hong Kong, having already experienced starvation and cultural terrorism under Mao Tse Tung. Only near the end of his life would he talk about that time. When he made it to small town Michigan, where a relative sponsored him, he was welcomed by some, scorned and discriminated against by others, and misunderstood by most. That's one reason why books like Jasmine Warga's Other Words for Home are essential for children to read--to open up the possibility of empathy across the myriad cultures that call America home.

While refugees from Asian communist countries were mistrusted in the middle of the last century, in the 2000s mistrust has fallen upon other immigrants including those from the "Middle East," a label Warga's main character, Jude, does not identify with. Jude is from Syria, where student protests lead to militaristic oppression. She and her mother, pregnant with the family's third child, travel to Cincinnati to live with Jude's uncle, leaving her father, older brother, and best friend behind.

Warga's novel in verse is divided into six parts, reflecting Jude's experience with immigration: "Changing," "Arriving," "Staying," "Hoping," "Growing," and "Living." The salty air of her warm and lush seaside hometown in Syria contrasts with the fast moving, bright coldness of Cincinnati. A cousin who is initially unwelcoming grows to become an ally. A school that initially seems daunting yields friends struggling with their own adjustments, including Samir from war-torn Lebanon. Warga avoids stereotypes when presenting Jude's culture. When Jude menstruates and subsequently decides to wear a head scarf, her sadness is not from feeling oppressed but from being unable to share this milestone with her friend back in Syria.

Jude's experiences dealing with extended family, adjusting to a new school and a new sibling, and trying out for the school play will be familiar to readers. That she is adjusting to these life events while fearing for the lives of her father and brother left behind will hopefully open the hearts of readers so they feel grace and empathy to refugees and anyone experiencing tough times. Other Words for Home does not end with all of Jude's problems resolved. She proudly performs in the play but resignedly realizes it will take time, maybe years, before her father and brother can join her in America. But it does end hopefully, as Jude herself finds friendship and confidence in a new home.

Image source: author's

Perez, Celia C. Tumble. 2022. 368 pages. LP: $18.99, ISBN:  9780593325179. Ages 9-12

From a sizzling, deliciously aromatic diner in Albuquerque to a wrestling family's sprawling ranch in Esperanza to a rustic roadside Christmas display fashioned from tumbleweeds, New Mexico's settings really pop in Perez's novel, Tumble. Tying these disparate locations together is Addie, a 12-year-old whose ambivalence about being adopted by her stepdad (head chef at the diner) coincides with her longing to know her biological dad and his family and her anger toward her paleontologist mom who refuses to have anything to do with him. 

Children with divorced parents may see themselves in Addie's longing for connection with the bio-dad she did not grow up with. Getting to know him and his side of the family becomes even more appealing when she discovers they are the famous Bravos family--Mexican American wrestlers or lucheros who star in the Luche Libra circuit where they wear colorful masks and costumes and wrestle with drama and pomp. Visits to the Bravos ranch not only introduce her to a welcoming and exuberant cast of characters that are all related to her, but also to the art of dramatic wrestling. She convinces her school to turn the annual Nutcracker performance into a wrestling show, proudly introducing her friends, classmates, and teachers to her family heritage.

But family relationships can be complicated and even long lost fathers can disappoint. Addie's excitement for having been reunited with her biological father, Manny, dissipates as he fails to turn up for expected visits, including the triumphant Nutcracker wrestling show. His promise that he will settle nearby and become a permanent fixture in her life is also broken. He remains important to Addie, but cannot provide the same kind of dependable love that her mother, stepfather, and the extended Bravos family can.

Along with vibrantly colorful settings and realistic family dynamics, Perez writes characters who are diverse and sympathetic. Addie's new friend Gus starts out as a misunderstood loner, Uncle Mateo, who creates her gorgeous wrestling mask and warns her to temper her expectations of her father, is a nonbinary drag performer, and her abuela is an expert at cooking and also a famous wrestling competitor. These and other characters are presented non-stereotypically. They are flawed and they both bolster and disappoint Addie. They help her on her journey to better understand herself, and to begin to understand and forgive both her parents for their divorce and the estrangement that followed.