Inside Out & Back Again

Title:   Inside Out & Back Again

Author:  Thanhha Lal

Genre:  Verse Novel, Historical Fiction

Age Level:  Ages 8 and up

Grade Level Equivalent:  5.3

Lexile Measure:  800

Guided Reading Level:  W

DRA:  60

Summary:  Ha and her family live in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Her father has been missing for many years, most likely taken by soldiers from the North. Their mother makes the difficult decision to leave everything they know and come to America, and their escape is made just before the fall of Saigon.

Vietnamese refugee families required a sponsor, and their sponsor is from Alabama. The story follows Ha's struggles to learn English, assimilate with a new and confusing culture, deal with bullies, and make new friends.

Review: The beautiful language of this book lends itself to the gauzy, memoir feel of the writing. It is based on the author's real life experiences, and that comes through in the poignant descriptions of the difficulty of learning English and making friends at a new school.

As it is written in verse, it is a relatively quick read, and Ha's experiences make it a high interest level. While it is set during the period of the Vietnam War, it is very much in the background with minor references.