Inside Out & Back Again, Thanhha Lai
Ha and her family narrowly escape the rise of communism in Vietnam and dangerously travel to America to start fresh, safe lives in Alabama. Growing up in a small hut with her mother and brothers, Ha misses her father who went missing in combat. She nurtures a precious papaya tree, and holds what is left of her family close. With the promise of a bright future, they bravely board a ship headed for America. There are pieces of their new life in Alabama that are better. Adequate clothes, enough food, daily schooling, and stable jobs to support themselves are new realities Ha's family did not experience in Vietnam. However, there are also new painful pieces that make Ha wish for her war-torn childhood home. Written in verse, Lai offers a raw view of immigration and family through a child's eye that is sure to leave the reader reeling for more.
Living in a country and attending classes where immigration, multiculturalism, and language barriers are an everyday reality for the majority of America's citizens, holds many difficulties. Prejudices are easily found and adopted. That does not have to be the case. Lai aids readers into the shoes of a young, scared, shy immigrant who just wants to fit in and discover what normal means. Teachers will be able to help their foreign students with more sympathy and students will develop empathy for their classmates that do things a little differently, after reading Inside Out and Back Again.
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