Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

There's a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about this title as a Newbery contender and I understand why. It's beautifully written--poetic and pretty. But who is the intended reader? I could see a social studies teacher using this verse novel to teach about immigration or Vietnam, but I'm not sure many students would pick this up for fun.

Ha (with an accent over the a) lives in a war-torn Saigon and it's getting scarier. There isn't much food, her dad hasn't returned from the war, and her family is frightened. Their uncle gives the family a chance to escape on a boat to America, but is starting over the right thing to do? Ha doesn't know English, she doesn't know America--she just knows Vietnam. Taken in (sort of) by a family in Alabama, the young girl must learn to adapt.

It's a quick, powerful read.

"Chant, my daughter;
your whispers will bloom
and shelter you
from words
you need not hear (198)."

Beautiful, isn't it?

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