Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
This is a beautiful and touching book told in verse.
Ha is a young girl living with her brothers and mother in Saigon during the Vietnam War. It's scary with all the explosions and violence looming nearby, especially with her dad being MIA, but it's also her home, the only place she's ever known, and she has the things she loves at her fingertips, like her mango tree. So when it comes time to flee on a ship, she's torn. Of course, when push comes to shove, she does what her mom tells her to do and gets on the boat.
The trip is miserable and scary. They're not sure what's happening or if they'll make it, and conditions are terrible as far as personal hygiene, food, and water. But they persist, and end up in Alabama.
Ha struggles with everything that's happened--the war, leaving her home far behind, hoping her father will come back to them, and the culture shock of Alabama. She has to learn English and it's super confusing. The kids in her class espouse the views of their parents, and they see the Vietnamese as the enemy. It's heart-wrenching to watch Ha fight her peers as she tries to adjust to life in America and cope with everything that's happened.
Even though it's painful to read, it's beautifully written. It's an important read for Americans because we tend to have one view of the Vietnam War: that of our side. But what about the Vietnamese civilians? Their stories are important if we want to view the war even remotely accurately. And when we let our hearts break with them, we become more fully human.
General consensus: Beautiful and important.
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