Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again is a verse novel by Thanhha Lai.^[1] The book was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for Young People's Literature^[2] and one of the two Newbery Honors.^[3] The novel was based on her first year in the United States, as a ten-year-old girl that spoke no English in 1975.

Plot Summary

Inside Out and Back Again is the story of Hà and her family being forced to move to the United States because the Vietnam War had reached their home, and it was no longer safe. They board a navy ship and flee. Upon spending a couple months at a refugee camp, they end up moving to Alabama. There she struggles with learning English and confronting bullies, including one named Pink Boy, at her new school. Hà at one point said, "No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama."^[4] Eventually, she has pushed through those hard times with the help of their next door neighbor—Mrs. Washington—and the support of her family. In the beginning of the book, it mentions that Hà's father-a soldier in the Vietnam war-was captured by the North Vietnamese Army when she was only a year old. In the end, Hà's family figures out that unfortunately, her father had died while in North Vietnamese hands. Hà then gets used to living in the U.S and her family celebrates the new year. She prays for good things to happen to her and her family.

References

External links

• http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Inside-Out-Back-Again-Thanhha-Lai/
• http://books.google.com/books?id=68Rzkmm82I0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Thanhha+Lai&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W8pPT6egEor4ggfeyNHODQ&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Thanhha%20Lai&f=false