Inside Out & Back Again

Inside Out & Back Again

Lai, Thanhha. Inside Out and Back Again. New York: Harper, 2007. ISBN 9780061962790

Summary:

Imagine yourself young, comfortable, and content with life when suddenly the place you know as home is under constant attack. Life isn’t safe anymore in your homeland, so your family must make the difficult and dangerous decision to flee your country in order to save your lives. This is Hà’s journey. It is a story of life – change, anguish, dreams, sorrow, promises, happiness, and most of all, resilience.

Analysis:

In this free verse novel, Thanhha Lai explores the life of a young girl and the struggles she and her family face. Lai’s poetic style carries the reader seamlessly through Hà’s journey from the beginning of her life in Saigon to her eventual home in Alabama. Her words read tenderly and allow the reader to deeply connect with Hà.

Thanhha Lai utilizes the free verse poetic form in her novel Inside Out and Back Again. Lai uses frequent line breaks that emphasize natural breaks in the follow of speech or a sentence. This commonly occurs in her novel with verbs or prepositional phrases beginning a line. Most lines are less than seven (7) words long. The consistency in short lines and the varied length of lines allows the reader to pause and completely take in Lai’s language.

Lai employs a variety of figurative language techniques in order to create a vivid picture of Hà’s journey. Throughout the novel, the reader will find evidence of simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, and imagery. These techniques help place the reader inside Hà’s Saigon school hunkered down in a safe place, next to her family aboard the ship, outside the family tent in Guam, beside her repeating a grade, and finally, at peace with the loss of her father.  Lai’s novel is a beautiful, poetic masterpiece based on a real life experience.

Below are examples of Thanhha Lai’s beautiful use of figurative language:

Simile

“I vow

to rise first every morning

to stare at the dew

on the green fruit

shaped like a lightbulb.” (p. 9)

“The breeze still cool

we bounce across the bridge

shaped like a crescent moon

where I’m not to go by myself.” (p. 32)

“In the distance

bombs

explode like thunder,

slashes

lighten the sky,

gunfire

falls like rain.” (p .48)

“Black seeds spill

like clusters of eyes

wet and crying.” (p. 60)

Onomatopoeia

“I listen to

the swish, swish

of Mother’s handheld fan.” (p. 67)

Personification

“We clap and clap

as the ships draw together

and kiss.” (p. 92)

Metaphor

The American ship

tows ours

with a steel braid

thick as my body.” (p. 92)

Imagery

“Tall and pig-bellied,

black cowboy hat,

tan cowboy boots,

cigar smoking,

teeth shining,

red in face,

golden in hair.” (p. 111)

Awards and Review Excerpts:

- 2011 National Book Award Winner

- 2012 Newbery Honor Book

- Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Fiction of 2011

- Washington Post Best Children's Books of 2011

- New York Times Best Seller

From Booklist, starred review: “Based in Lai’s personal experience, this first novel captures a child–refugee’s struggle with rare honesty. Written in accessible, short free–verse poems, Hà’s immediate narrative describes her mistakes—both humorous and heartbreaking; and readers will be moved by Hà’s sorrow as they recognize the anguish of being the outcast.”

From The Horn Book: “Lai’s spare language captures the sensory disorientation of changing cultures as well as a refugee’s complex emotions and kaleidoscopic loyalties.”

From Publishers Weekly: “A series of poems about English grammar offer humor and a lens into the difficulties of adjusting to a new language and customs ("Whoever invented English/ should be bitten/ by a snake"). An incisive portrait of human resilience.”

From School Library Journal: “Sensory language describing the rich smells and tastes of Vietnam draws readers in and contrasts with Hà's perceptions of bland American food, and the immediacy of the narrative will appeal to those who do not usually enjoy historical fiction.”  ~ Jennifer Rothschild

From Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books: “In this free-verse narrative, Lai is sparing in her details, painting big pictures with few words and evoking abundant visuals.”

Connections:

Locate Saigon on a map and research The Vietnam War to help provide background knowledge.

Collect and share Thanhha Lai’s second novel: Listen, Slowly ISBN 9780062229182

Create a “featured poet” display about Thanhha Lai. Be sure to include information from the author’s note found at the end of Inside Out and Back Again.

Visit Lai’s website for more information about her: http://www.thanhhalai.com

Visit http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011_ypl_lai.html#.VhcyKrRM8l8 and listen to Thanhha read a selection from her novel Inside Out and Back Again.

Ask students to select a pivotal event in their lives and write a free verse poem inspired by Lai’s style.

Collect, share, make connections and compare Lai’s verse novel to other novels where young adults incur great changes or challenges in life, such as:

- Number the Stars by Lois Lowery ISBN 978054757709

- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen ISBN 9781416936473

- Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardner ISBN 9780064401326

Create a collection of picture books about immigration, such as:

- Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro ISBN 9780590441513

- The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi ISBN 978075691630

     - If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine ISBN 9780590438292

*Image borrowed from www.barnesandnoble.com

Enjoy the journey!

~ Mandy