Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

National Book Award Finalist
Newbery 



Summary: The story takes place in Saigon in 1975. Ha, the main character is the youngest and only daughter in her family. The war has impacted her life because she fled from North Vietnam at the beginning and her father has been missing in action for years. As the fighting gets closer and Ha's mother fears the worst she allows a family friend help them to escape on a Navy ship full of refugees. The family winds up in Alabama and it's a very different world. Ha has to learn a new language, new foods and customs and new friends. Life is different and hard but Ha is still surrounded by a family who loves and supports her, this makes a big difference in the daily struggles of assimilating into a new culture in a time of controversy.

Ha is able to relate the information in verse in a matter of fact way of a child.  The verse not only gives the sense of broken language and you can hear Ha's voice throughout the story. The verse also allows the reader to gain the most important words, there is no fluff, and the choice of words and phrases become a powerful representation of Ha's consciousness. 

I loved every member of the family and the way the story unfolded. This is a book that I will go back and read over and over again because there is so much left unsaid, waiting to be discovered. 

This book is based on the author's own experiences as a ten year old. The genre of historical fiction allows her latitude in deciding about details surrounding dates and names. It also creates a beautiful platform for expressing her feelings and remembrances about that time in her life.