Thursday, November 20, 2014

Inside Out and Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again is a book of poems that is told by a young girl named Ha. Ha is a ten year old girl who is grew up in Saigon in Vietnam but had to leave because the Vietnam War was affecting her town. The family was forced to flee and set sail on a ship to America. Her father is still missing but yet the family gathers the courage to move to another world to keep them safe and allow them to continue having opportunities. The family faces many struggles with their move like, language barriers and culture shock. This is a fantastic story about a girl and her family dealing with enormous changes but yet learning how to survive. 

This story would be great for upper elementary students, middle school student, or even high school aged students. Many students would be able to connect with this story, especially students who have moved from another country or even another state. Also students would be able to connect with the hard times the family faces, which are similar to challenges that families face. I would want my students to become educated in the Vietnamese culture before reading this book. There were many cultural ideas and traditions that I was unfamiliar with when reading this book. I think I would have been able to understand and connect better with the book if I understood some of the terms. Also I would use this book to help students develop a better understanding of poetry. Students can learn many things from this book and I definitely want to have it in my classroom one day.

Inside Out and Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Year Published: 2011 

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