Alison King's Reading List

"Other Words for Home is the story of Jude who lives in Syria . She has to leave and accompany her pregnant mother across to a new life in America with her mother’s brother who lives there with his family. Jude loves American movies, she talks too much, she asks too many questions, and she has a real zest and passion for life. She has always been told to be quiet, there’s this big thing about how she should be respectful and be seen and not heard. But she doesn’t observe any of that. She’s a really fun character to get behind. Navigating life in the United States as a Muslim is way more challenging for Jude than she expected it to be. She has to cope with the pressure of new labels as people start to make assumptions about her, where she’s come from and what she thinks. It’s almost like they’re trying to force her into all these different boxes. She’s never had to observe any of that before, she’s always just been Jude and been allowed to be who she is. She’s living under a constant cloud of worry because her father and brother have stayed in Syria where her brother is possibly part of the resistance and her father wouldn’t leave his shop. So while she’s very much there looking after Mum and preparing for the baby’s arrival, there’s a real fear that she’s never going to see her brother or her father again. She desperately wants to be happy in her new home but there is a sense of disloyalty as well, that she’s somehow betraying who she is and where she’s come from by settling in and adapting too well. Through it all, she’s embracing new challenges and making new friends. She gathers new family around her and gets involved in a school musical which you don’t see coming, it completely blindsides you. She’s fighting to be seen and to be loved and respected for the person that she’s becoming. The story is told in free verse and is incredibly hopeful. It explores really complicated themes like conflict and corruption, the idea of home and what that means to different people, and identity and how we define ourselves. Other Words for Home cuts right to the heart of the reality of life as an outsider and captures the acute honesty of somebody who feels that they don’t fit anywhere. It’s really thoughtful, and it’s funny. There’s so much humour and I think that is surprising in a novel that deals with such hard-hitting themes. It’s exceptionally brave. It challenged my ideas about Syria, about what home really is, and also about the experiences of people who are forced to leave everything they know. It’s very dramatic, and it’s lyrical. I think the author has written this novel in verse to try and capture the way that Arabic flows. I read a couple of interviews with her where she talks about the poetry of Arabic and the way that it sounds like music, and how she felt like this was going to be the way to catch that and pin it down. The verse format allows the reader to step right into Jude’s experiences so you feel her confusion and her loss and her courage, you are walking beside her through every page. This novel has been very highly acclaimed, and that’s very well deserved. It is a beautiful, beautiful book."

"I have to hold my hands up here and say that if Meg Grehan rewrote the phonebook I would be all over that. Because honestly she’s got so much skill with verse, and she makes it look so easy. It must take so much effort to shape those verses and craft those sentences, but you can’t see any of the mechanics, it’s just perfect. She’s got this innate ability to hang the right word in the right place every time and the effect is absolutely mesmerising. The Deepest Breath follows 11 year old Stevie. She’s an incredibly anxious child, she’s got a really big heart, and she is trying to understand where she fits in the grand scheme of things. She knows a lot of things, especially about marine life. Her brain is kind of like a sponge, she just soaks up all this information and she really enjoys knowing things. But she doesn’t know why she feels a bit funny when she looks at her friend Chloe. And she’s a bit worried that Mum might read things into it if she talks to her so she doesn’t bring it up. She sets out to find the answers for herself with the help of a librarian and an awful lot of books, and I find that so endearing. It’s not a huge part of the story, but this quest for self-discovery is very much aided by this nameless librarian and a stack of paperbacks, which I think is brilliant. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Again, it’s written in free verse, and the narrative captures the essence of Stevie perfectly. It’s a very slim book but it could have a profound impact on a child struggling with anxiety or coming out to a parent. Stevie’s fascination with the sea is completely reflected in the rhythms of the verse. It flows steady like a river one minute and then it’s crashing like waves against a cliff face the next, you get that real sense of build and ebb and flow with it. The relationship between Stevie and her mum is beautifully realised and the reading experience overall is incredibly gentle. It’s thoughtful and it’s powerful. This book is an absolute treasure. I really do think it belongs on bookshelves in children’s bedrooms, in libraries, everywhere."