I am obsessed with my latest Book Blurb Book! I have most recently read the book, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai and I absolutely loved it! Inside Out & Back Again is a verse novel and beautifully written story about a monumental year in the life of a Vietnamese little girl named Ha’. Taking place during the Vietnam War, Ha’ and her family have to flee to the United States when her hometown, Saigon, is taken over. Initially, Ha’ and he family face several challenges in relation leaving Vietnam. Ha’ expresses her sadness about leaving friends, her Papaya tree, and leaving the chance of ever being reunited with her father, who went missing several years earlier. When her family left their home and escaped to the united states, Ha’ and her family had to adjust at every twist and turn. Whether it was the boat ride to safety, traveling to Florida and waiting for a sponsor, to moving to Alabama and being taunted by her American peers, Ha’s life was turned inside out and back again. Strongly rooted with Vietnamese traditions, Ha’ and her family use these values to adjust and accept the changes that have occurred. Eventually, Ha’ accepts herself and her new life and is ready to give her new life a fresh start, just as they would each year in Vietnam.
So far this book is my favorite compared to the others that I have read for this annotated bibliography. No only do I love historical fiction, but I adore that it is a verse novel. This book is inspiring so on many levels. I feel inspired to read this book aloud to my entire class, to share it with all of my students, to help my student develop a sensitivity to other cultures, to reach out more the immigrant community, and I even feel inspired to write like this myself! This novel is a true gem.
I will for sure find a way to incorporate this book into the classroom curriculum. Here are some of my ideas:
Before reading, I would have students complete a web quest to help them build their background knowledge on the Vietnam war, that time in history, historical figures, Vietnamese culture and to expose them to other stories about emigrating to the United States. This would be a great book to incorporate into literature circles. I also feel that since this is a verse novel, that it would be important to have several mini lessons on poetry and figurative language. In writing, this story could be incorporated by having students compose a shot poem describing their feelings related to this book or describing their reactions.
Before reading, I would have students complete a web quest to help them build their background knowledge on the Vietnam war, that time in history, historical figures, Vietnamese culture and to expose them to other stories about emigrating to the United States. This would be a great book to incorporate into literature circles. I also feel that since this is a verse novel, that it would be important to have several mini lessons on poetry and figurative language. In writing, this story could be incorporated by having students compose a shot poem describing their feelings related to this book or describing their reactions.
Students could
complete various activities through the following resources:
Check it out! The author of Inside Out & Back Again, Thanhha Lai reads part of the book!
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