Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Published by HarperCollins
on Feb 22, 2011
Genre: Middle Grade, Poetry, Historical Fiction
Length: 262 pages
Ages: 9 - 12 years
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Literary Awards:
National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2011)
Jane Addams Children's Book Award Nominee for Older Children (2012)
Newbery Medal Nominee (2012)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2013)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Nominee (2013)
Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Grades 6-8 (2014)
Synopsis:
For all the ten years of her life, Ha has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Ha and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Ha discovers the foreign world of Alabama; the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food... and the strength of her very own family.
My Thoughts:
Inside Out & Back Again is a semi-autobiographical middle-grade novel told in verse and is about a young Vietnamese girl who is uprooted from her home in Saigon when the city falls to the war in 1975. With her father missing in action since she was a baby, Kim Ha, her mother, and her older siblings all become refugees that first travel to Guam and then to the United States where her family is sponsored by a man from Alabama. Ha faces a new world, a new language, and even bullying but finds strength in her family and memories of her homeland.
This book is beautifully written, told in poetic verse that really submerges us in the Vietnamese culture and the immigration experience. Ha's entire world is uprooted during the Vietnam War and escaping to a foreign country, learning a new language, and dealing with microaggressions and bullying is no walk in the park but Ha and her family persevere.
This #ownvoices story is a quick read but eye-opening and heartwarming. I loved how Ha reminisced about her homeland and its delicious foods and I loved her rants about the English language.
I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a read about a new place, culture, or experience!
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