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September 2026 - A Day at the Beach
By Kristen · 5 posts · 42 views
By Kristen · 5 posts · 42 views
last updated Sep 07, 2025 06:50PM
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June Read- Inside Out and Back Again
By Kim · 15 posts · 137 views
By Kim · 15 posts · 137 views
last updated Dec 19, 2011 08:09AM
What Members Thought
The story is nicely evocative of all of the things Ha misses when her family leaves Vietnam. The free verse form heightens the emotions and lets the historical facts fade into the backdrop - while certain times, places and historical figures are mentioned, the emotions could translate to any refugee situation. The ending felt a little abrupt, but otherwise the book was strong.
There's a brief note from the author talking more about why she wrote the book than adding any historical facts - curiou ...more
There's a brief note from the author talking more about why she wrote the book than adding any historical facts - curiou ...more
Brilliantly executed book written in verse. The closest I can figure to compare it to is Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, and the two actually have quite a bit in common. I'd love to study the two together. A young girl and her family escape Saigon as it falls in the VIetnam War and are relocated to Alabama.
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Newbery Honor, 2012
I found many things to like about this book, especially the narrator's voice. My thought is that young readers would need lots of background knowledge about the Vietnam War to get started with this book. I'm interested to hear how kids like this one. ...more
I found many things to like about this book, especially the narrator's voice. My thought is that young readers would need lots of background knowledge about the Vietnam War to get started with this book. I'm interested to hear how kids like this one. ...more
Novel in verse. Well-written. Set in South Vietnam in 1975 and moves to the U.S. Excellent sense of place and time. Definitely good for students who are assigned to read about other cultures. I may use this for a book club book. I really liked it a lot.
RL 800
I love it when a story can be successfully heartbreaking and funny. I think the great strength of Inside Out and Back Again is that it balances humor and pathos. Obviously, this is going to be a story with tough themes and a lot of sadness, but it's also somehow effortlessly told and, I think, easy to understand and identify with. What a wonderful accomplishment for a first-time children's author.
This book has quite a bit in common with All the Broken Pieces: both about young Vietnamese refugees ...more
This book has quite a bit in common with All the Broken Pieces: both about young Vietnamese refugees ...more
What would it be like to have to leave your home in Saigon and
come to this country and live in Alabama and eat different food and be teased at school because you are different. This was a touching
story of a young immigrant girl and the difficulties she faced when coming to the United States based on the author's experiences. ...more
come to this country and live in Alabama and eat different food and be teased at school because you are different. This was a touching
story of a young immigrant girl and the difficulties she faced when coming to the United States based on the author's experiences. ...more
Just reread this book as I was getting ready to do a blog post on it. It was as lovely this time as the first time I read it. I certainly understand why it's on so many mock Newbery lists!
That it is a novel in verse is just icing on the cake! ...more
That it is a novel in verse is just icing on the cake! ...more
My students who are refugees or who have had to learn English will be able to relate. I feel so bad that they are "stupid" in English, when I know very well that they are brilliant in their native language.
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Excellent addition to the very few children's books on the immigration of Vietnamese after the war.
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Wow! Amazing perspective gain from such a quick read! Thank you!
Told in the same style as Odette's Secrets, the author relates a story of displacement due to war in free verse which somehow lets the anger and confusion of youth come through more clearly.
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Feb 12, 2012
Kristin McIlhagga
marked it as to-read
Oct 07, 2012
Dan
rated it
it was amazing
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review of another edition
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