Bibliographic Data
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Harper ©2011
ISBN:
9780061962783
Brief Plot Summary
Just as
the I Ching Teller of Fate predicts, Hà’s, a ten-year-old Vietnamese girl, life
is turned inside out. Chronicling a single year Ha lives through incredible
changes displacing her from war torn Vietnam to the other side of the world,
Alabama. Her mother is strong and her father has been M.I.A. for years. This
emotional tale is told through free-verse dense with culture, sensory language,
and a touch of humor. After the hardships of culture shock and alienation, Ha
transitions to her new home.
Critical Analysis
This
story is told from the first person point of view of our 10-year-old
protagonist, Hà. She is learning English and the culture of America. Using a
free-verse format makes sense because it expresses her voice well. Her voice is
phonetically represented in words like “Msss. Sscott.” People and things are
referred to as she would, for example, the pink boy. Her perspective really
clears the air for perceptions of immigrants in America. Too often Americans
see English learners as unintelligent. Hà turns thoughts like these on their
heads, as she is clever. She often acts as though other people are dumb (“Whoever
invented English should have learned to spell”).
Hà's narrative
has strong emotion. We find her longing for normalcy, in sadness, living in
fear, drowning in embarrassment and shame, raging in anger, and more. This year
of her life is traumatic. She fled a country in war, never knew her father,
moves to the other side of the world, and learns to live a new life.
This book
has resounding sensory language. We can see the glossy seeds of the papayas she
loves so much. We can smell the lavender of her mother. We can hear the distant
explosions of bombs. We can feel the hot metal benches burning her legs as she
waits for rations. We can see the flowers through her tears as she tries to run
to her home in Alabama. We can taste the bitter mouthful of fish sauce and how
good fresh-killed chicken is. Color is constantly brought up in this story.
Many times we hear about the plant life in Vietnam and the colors of people’s
hair and skin.
Saigon, At Sea, Alabama, and From Now On are the four section’s titles in which this book is
organized. It is almost like the four seasons in a year, coincidentally the
span of time this story takes place. The stanzas for each poem vary in length
and quantity. Each poem has a title and ends with a date, similar to a journal
entry.
Since
this is a somewhat autobiographical book about a Vietnamese girl the reader
will this volume dense with cultural references. Foods like papaya, rice, and
tamarind candy come up frequently. The first and last poems take place during
Tet, the lunar New Year. A metaphor refers to worms (“Hours later the stitches
appear in slow motion, the needle a worm laying tiny eggs”) and a simile to lizards
(“It hurts too much to keep screaming, but it feels good to trash about like a
captured lizard”), creatures she knows from her childhood.
Review Excerpt(s)
“Readers
will be moved by Hà's sorrow as they recognize the anguish of being the outcast
who spends lunchtime hiding in the bathroom.” - Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Jan. 1, 2011 (Vol. 107,
No. 9))
“In
haunting poems based on her own childhood experiences as a refugee in the deep
South, Lai shares the sting of American ignorance and prejudice, the stigma of
being thought "dumb" for not yet being fluent in the perplexities of
English language spelling and pronunciation, the kindness of new friends, and
the slow acceptance of inevitable change” - Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
Connections
Scholastic
Book Clubs Lesson Plans and discussion questions: http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/guides/inside_out_guide.pdf
Share
excerpts that portray Ha’s difficulty with learning English. Many rules of
grammar have exceptions. Discuss grammar rules and exceptions of those rules.
Find this activity and more: http://classroombookshelf.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/inside-out-back-again.html
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