Skip to main content

Inside Out and Back Again

Inside Out and Back Again

Author: Thanhha Lai
Genre: Historical Fiction
Award: Newbery Honor
Grade: 4th grade and up


The story is set during the Vietnam war and it is written in short poems. A 10-year-old girl named Ha moves from Saigon to Alabama due to the war. She moved with her mother and brothers and they traveled by boat to America. Ha struggles as she tries to settle to the country she moved in, which is the United States. She struggles on moving on from the country she has known growing up to settling in a new country. At the end of the book, they finally settled and they have courage that life will get better for them.


This book is unique because it is written in a series of short poems. The writing is smooth and clear. I would recommend this to students 4th grade and up because it is a book of poems and it is a thick book. I like Ha’s story because it tells the story of people who moved to other countries and they are culture shock. The title is called inside out and back again because the fortune teller predicted their life is going to turn “inside out”, which it did because they moved to another country. “Back again” is because as they settled, they are back to their own selves and they found a way to be back to normal.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Rapunzel

Rapunzel Author: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Illustrator: Carol Heyer Genre: Traditional Literature Ages or Grade: 2 nd to 5 th grade Rapunzel is a story well-known story about a couple who are greedy that the witch took their child in exchange of their wrongdoings. It all started when the wife wanted some of the fruits from the backyard of their neighbors. She craved it so much and wanted it that his husband sneaked in and get some until the owner found out that he had been stealing. In exchange for him stealing, the witch wanted their child. She locked up Rapunzel in a high tower till a prince found out about the tower and Rapunzel. They both fell in love and the witch found out. The witch then cut off her hair and locked her up. He fell and blinded himself but years passed and they found each other again and live happily ever after. This is a long story for children to read aloud so I will probably start to read half of it in the morning and then read the en...

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night

Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night Author: Joyce Sidman Illustrator: Rick Allen Genre: Poetry Ages or Grade: 3 rd through 5 th grade This book consists of poems about animals especially night animals. It consists of a lot of sounding words and informative concrete detailed words. This poem book talks about each night creatures and tells a story of what they do at night. This is a good poem book to keep in my future classroom because each poem makes you imagine and see it vividly in your mind by the way the words are put together. This is also informative for students and will be helpful for classification or science class because it explains weather, animals, and classifications. Not only it is a poem book it is also informative and has a lot of fun facts for students to read on the side of every page.

Red Sings from Treetops a year in color

Red Sings from Treetops a year in colors Author: Joyce Sidman Illustrator: Pamela Zagarenski Genre: Poetry Ages or Grade: 3 rd – 5 th grade This book makes colors alive like human beings. It describes the colors having qualities and bringing them into life. This poem book goes over the four seasons which is spring, fall, winter, and summer. Red Sings from Treetops illustrations are really well illustrated because it gives the feeling of actually being in that particular season. This book is great to read to my students because they will imagine and view colors as persons and each colors have amazing unique qualities. My students can also be more aware and appreciative of colors all around us. This poem book is more for a 3 rd through 5 th grade students due to the length of the sentences and understanding. Since the illustrations looks like paper art, I will have the students do their piece of art that is based on their favorite seasons.