She gets her first period after the auditions but before the cast announcement. Jude auditions anyway, performing a song that Issa used to sing and a monologue from the film Notting Hill. Layla warns her against trying out, attempting to convince Jude that they should stay backstage and work on sets. Jude goes sledding with Sarah and Sarah’s friends as arranged by Aunt Michelle, and she tells them of her plans to audition for the musical.

In Part 4, “Hoping,” Jude yearns for word from Fatima, who has not replied to Jude’s letters later she discovers that Mama never sent her letters because Fatima’s family left Syria for an unknown location. Back home, Issa moves from their city toward Aleppo to fight for freedom. An announcement about tryouts for the school musical catches Jude’s attention. Jude also meets Layla, an eighth-grade girl whose parents emigrated from Lebanon, and they become good friends. Sarah remains somewhat distant, jealous over Jude’s connection to her (Sarah’s) father. She finds it difficult to follow teachers and lessons, but she enjoys her English as a Second Language class. Part 3, “Staying,” takes Jude from the first day of seventh grade to Thanksgiving break. Jude sees many forms of wealth and opulence in America, but she also sees the homeless and unfortunate. Aunt Michelle introduces Jude to shopping and restaurants. In Part 2, “Arriving,” Jude meets her Uncle Mazin, Aunt Michelle, and cousin Sarah. Jude must say goodbye to Issa, Baba, and her best friend Fatima without knowing when they might all be together again. After a protest near their city suggests that violence may be headed their way, Jude’s parents decide that Mama, who is pregnant, will take Jude for a stay in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Mama’s brother Mazin lives.

Jude just wants her family to be safe and at peace.

Jude knows that rebellion and violence from militant groups affect other parts of Syria, like the war-torn city of Aleppo her own beloved brother Issa supports democratic reform and therefore disagrees with their father’s support of the Syrian president. Tourism is crucial to the economy of the city and to the families that live there, including Jude’s her father owns a small store that caters to tourists with snacks and magazines. In Part 1, “Changing,” soon-to-be seventh grader Jude lives in a Syrian city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Other words for home by jasmine warga