Poetry: Verse Novel

For this last book in our poetry segment, we were asked to read a children’s verse novel. I chose for this assignment Thanhha Lai’s INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN.

Bibliography:

Lai, Thanhha, 2011, INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN, New York, Haper Collins Children’s Books, 2011. ISBN: 0061962791.

Plot Summary:

Through a series of free verse poems, Thanhha Lai’s narrator Ha chronicles the difficulties and changes she experienced in during 1975’s fall of South Vietnam and her families flight and immigration to the United States of America, specifically Alabama. This work touches on heavy topics such as war, patriotism, death and grief, the generational divide, racism and stereotyping, and bullying from the perspective of an eleven-year-old Vietnamese girl and her observations and experiences with the topics. While these topics are discussed and the backdrop of the story is the war in Vietnam, this work is still filled with beauty, hope, and humor as Ha shares her insights into her world.

Critical Review:

This is Thanhha Lai’s first published work which is most surprising because it is just that good! The free verse style of her semi-autobiographical novel skillfully tells the story of young Kim Ha and her family as they have to leave their war-torn home in South Vietnam in 1975 and immigrate to Alabama. Writing this novel in a poetry format is a stroke of genius! The pauses after each verse give the reader time to contemplate the depth of what Ha thinks and feelings and allows the reader to feel the emotions and sense the imagery and sound.

When Ha is first introduced to her American school class she states, “I don’t understand, but I see” (pg.142). This is what most American Readers experience when Ha introduces them to her life in Vietnam. Lai writes of the sites, sounds, and smells she experiences so well that the reader feels they are there with Ha. In “A Day Downtown,” the reader feels “the [morning] breeze still cool, smells “Mother smells of lavender/ and warmth, hears “downtown/ think with beeps,/ shouts, police whistles”sees “a banh cuon stand/ I love watching/the spread of rice flour on cloth/stretched like a steaming pot” and tastes “Mother gives me a tamarind candy./I have never been/ so thrilled/ to drink my saliva” (pgs 32-36) In so doing, Lai allows the reader to learn so much about Vietnamese culture. Some other imagery and sounds Lai incorporates are the difficulties Ha has with learning the English language and her experience on the sea vessels escaping Vietnam and upon first seeing the blond hairs on the sailor’s arm.

Lai is also a master at allowing the reader to feel Ha’s emotions and her anger about being a girl, not having long hair, and not feeling smart enough. Right from the start of the year we are exposed to these strong emotions as Ha feels “an old, angry knot/expand in my throat” when she is told that one of her brothers must be first to rise on Tet and how she sneakily defies her mother, “I decided/ to wake before dawn/and tap my big toe/ to the tile floor/first./ Not even Mother/ sleeping beside me, knew” (pgs. 2-3). At the end of the novel in the poem, “Confessions” the reader feels the guilt Ha carried with her about this act of disobedience and her that she was the reason her family suffered so, “It’s time to tell Mother/why misery/keeps pouncing on me…At dawn on Tet/I tapped my big toe/to the tile floor/first” and the relief her mother gives her saying “My child,/how you shoulder the world!/I was superstitious/ that’s all./If anything,/you gave us luck/because we got out/and we’re here” (pgs.213-216). Lai also conveys so many more emotions this way from grief to fear to humor to loneliness.

If there is anything to dislike about this work it would be that Ha is not always the most reliable narrator in the realm of the struggles her mother endures or further exploring her brothers’ emotions. Overall this coming of age book will be an excellent read allowed for those who interact with children or those who are looking for a good read. One doesn’t even have to like poetry to enjoy this work.

Awards, Mentions, & Reviews:

Awards (cited from author Tianhha Lai’s website)

• National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, 2011
• Newbery Honor, 2012
• Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor for Older Children, 2012
• ALA Notable Children ‘s Book 2012, Middle;
• Booklist 2011 Editors’ Choice, Books for Youth, Fiction, Middle Reader
• Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books of 2011
• Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books 2011, Fiction
• SLJ Best Books of 2011, Fiction
• Booklist Lasting Connections of 2012, Social Studies
• Notable Children’s Book in the English Language Arts, 2012
• CCBC Choices, 2012
• Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2012, World History & Culture

Reviews:

Book Page – “Lai’s spare poetry, full of emotion and infused with humor, is accessible to young children and adults alike. This moving and beautifully told story is a must-read for anyone who works with children new to the country” (Smith, 2011).

Kirkus – “In her not-to-be-missed debut, Lai evokes a distinct time and place and presents a complex, realistic heroine whom readers will recognize, even if they haven’t found themselves in a strange new country” (Kirkus, 2011).

Common Sense Media – “INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN is a memorable story, told beautifully in free verse poetry. The poetry makes Ha’s story easy to read and allows readers to fully experience a wide range of situations and emotions without being overwhelmed” (Breck, 2011).

Suggestion for Connections:

Listen to the audiobook for pronunciations and to listen to the struggle Ha has with the English language.

Research the Vietnamese celebration of Tet. Create traditional foods and have a Tet celebration with a reading of the parts of the book where Ha describes the Vietnamese food, and the Vietnamese food versus the American food.

Ha spends a lot of time watching and waiting on her papaya tree to grow ripe fruit to eat. Plant a seed with your children (bean plants are usually fairly hardy and grow quickly) and have them write their feelings and observations as the plant grows.

Invite individuals of Vietnamese heritage to come in and provide children with a cultural exchange and discuss what it is like being a Vietnamese American.

Pair with Thanhha Lai’s other work LISTEN SLOWLY (2015) which is written in narrative form. Does the work evoke the same feelings and connection as INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN? Why or why not?

Consult the CommonLit educational support website for connection suggestions about refuge life, bullying, growing up, and overcoming hardships. https://www.commonlit.org/en/book-pairings/inside-out-back-again

References:

Breck, Kristen, 2011, “Inside Out and Back Again – Book Review,” Common Sense Media: Ratings, Reviews, and Advice, Common Sense Media, March 5, 2011, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/inside-out-and-back-again.

CommonLi,. 2014, “Book Pairings – Inside Out & Back Again,” CommonLit, 2014, https://www.commonlit.org/en/book-pairings/inside-out-back-again.

Kirkus, 2011, “INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai,” Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2011, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/thanhha-lai/inside-out-and-back-againh/.

Lai, Thanhha, 2015, LISTEN SLOWLY, New York, Harper Collins. ISBN:
 9780062229199.

Lai, Thanhha, n.d, “Thanhha Lai – Inside Out & Back Again,” Thanhha Lai – Home, Accessed February 27, 2019, https://www.thanhhalai.com/inside-out-back-again/.

Smith, Robin, 2011, “Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai – Review | BookPage,” BookPage.com, March 2011, https://bookpage.com/reviews/6821-thanhha-lai-inside-out-back-again-childrens#.XHaHO-hKiM8.