Inside Out and Back Again

By: Thanhha Lai

Narrated by: Doan Ly

Length: 2 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award, Young People's Literature, 2011

Vietnam-born author Thanhha Lai bursts onto the literary scene with Inside Out & Back Again—her National Book Award-winning debut. Written in rich, free-verse poems, this moving tale follows a young Vietnamese girl as she leaves her war-torn homeland for America in 1975. With Saigon about to fall to the communists, 10-year-old Hà, her mother, and brothers are forced to flee their beloved city and head to the United States. But living in a new country isn’t easy for Hà, and she finds adapting to its strange customs ever challenging.

©2011 Thanhha Lai (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC

Best story

The best book I ever had played overall I love it the book tells about a real person

Good story

It was a good story. I was expecting more out of it and it just ended suddenly. It stinks that it doesn’t let you know that it is one of many to finish the story.

War from a child's poetic perspective

The narration was very soothing to listen and I really enjoyed the story and it's more poetic than prose style of convening a child's perspective of war, loss and determination.

All Readers Listen!

What a great reality-based story. This is such a great knowledgeable book for young readers to be exposed to. Excellent storytelling by Thanhha Lai, and excellent narration of little Ha by Doan Ly.

very real

The story is important. We as Americans do not know these intimate details of immigrants from war torn countries. It makes you more aware, wish you could do something.

This book was added to my 8th grade curriculum.

Great listen. Good for me because I'll annotate while reading instead of just listening first.

A Beautiful Memoir about Immigration

Beautifully composed and thoughtfully narrated, a powerful memoir about a family immigrating from Vietnam to America during the war.

Wars and Life Changes

Vietnam had an impact throughout the world and life as we knew it will never be the same. Our story concerns one family who left their motherland to plant new roots in America.

The experience of a refugee in America

What made the experience of listening to Inside Out and Back Again the most enjoyable?

Many students in the United States know the pain and loneliness of being the “new kid” at a school. But most Americans move from one city to another, or one state to another—not one country to another, and one culture to another. But reading allows children to learn about experience they’ve never had. And really good books allow children to feel the feelings described. Inside Out And Back Again is one of those tales. One can’t read it without changing as a person because the reader truly feels the feelings of Ha, the main character.

The story begins in Saigon, Viet Nam just before the city falls in the early 1970’s. Ha, her mother and brothers flee the country and are sponsored by an American family in Alabama. The first half of the story takes place in Viet Nam and the second half takes place in the US.

What did you like best about this story?

Ha goes through are real human emotions as she navigates the types of things all kids must endure when they are thrust into a new situation, only Ha experiences them a much greater extreme.

This is a wonderful story, well written, emotionally tight. Fifth through seventh graders will enjoy it.

Who was the most memorable character of Inside Out and Back Again and why?

Ha suffers the prejudice and crulty of the children at her school. She suffers the confusion of not knowing the language. And she muddles through the difficulties of having to eat unfamiliar foods and missing the treats she enjoyed in her native land. She also experiences the kindness of neighbors and learns the wonder of building new friendships.

perfect

This audio book is phenomenal. As a monolingual English speaker, I struggle with pronouncing the Vietnamese words, so I truly appreciated this book. I used this novel as a read aloud with my 5th graders, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed this precious, funny, heartbreaking, relatable tale. Well done!