inside out and back

Title: "Inside Out & Back Again"
Author: Thankhha Lai
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Harper Collins
Readability Scores:

  • Grade level Equivalent: 5.3
  • Lexile® Measure: 800L
  • DRA: 60
  • Guided Reading: W

Summary:

Moving | Hopeful | Vivid | Relevant | Authentic

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

Delivery:

I would deliver this text to my students as a read-aloud until I was certain the students could comprehend the text independently. At first, I would bring the free verse up on the SmartBoard and each day as a class we would read and analyze 1-4 poems, allotting plenty of time for discussion of important vocabulary and history to ensure optimum comprehension.

Electronic Resources:

Click here for a kid-friendly video clip that summarizes the motives behind the Vietnam War. Understanding the premise of the Vietnam War is crucial to understanding the text and will help students to retain more information when reading this novel. The video is perfect for a pre-reading activity.

Click here for access to a photo gallery with photographs of refuges from the Vietnam War which helps the novel "Inside Out & Back Again" to come alive for the students who are reading it. While the article itself is not appropriate for elementary-aged students, the photographs featured in the photo gallery may help to illuminate the Vietnam War for readers. I would ask students to analyze the photograph of the Viatnamese children seeking refuge for a writing activity.

Vocabulary Instruction:

Free Verse: poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

Tuberoses: a Mexican plant of the agave family, with heavily scented white waxy flowers and a bulblike base. Unknown in the wild, it was formerly cultivated as a flavoring for chocolate; the flower oil is used in perfumery.

Tet: in Vietnam, and in Vietnamese communities, a festival held over three days to mark the lunar New Year

Vietnam: a country in Southeast Asia, on the South China Sea

Vietnam War: a civil war between communist North Vietnam and US-backed South Vietnam

Glutinous rice: is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, which is especially sticky when cooked.

Altar: a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices or offerings to a God.

Communism: a political theory which leads to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Ho Chi Minh: Vietnamese communist statesman; president of North Vietnam 1954–69.

Literal/Inferential Comprehension Strategies:

Pre-Reading: Show the short video clip which summarizes the motives behind the Vietnam War and, as a class, discuss what life was like for the Vietnamese during this era. Discussing the historical context of the text and reviewing key vocabulary is essential to ensuring optimum comprehension.

While Reading: The novel is written in prose, so I would do a pre-reading activity before reading each poem to discuss the context of the specific poem along with any key vocabulary. At first, we would bring the poems up on the SmartBoard and analyze it as a class. Halfway through the text I might have students do this in pairs. By the end of the book I would expect students to be able to analyze the poem for comprehension individually.

After Reading:

Literal/Inferential Questions:

  1. Sometimes Hà is angry about being a girl. Why does she make sure to tap her big toe on the floor before her brothers wake up on the morning of the new year? When she thinks about that moment a year later, what does she say?
  2. Why does Mother lock away the portrait of Father after chanting in the morning (p. 13)? What do you think you would do if you were Hà or one of her brothers and someone close to you passed away? What would you say to Mother?
  3. What does Hà mean when she talks about "how the poor fill their children's bellies" (p. 37)? What is Mother trying to do when she talks about how lovely yam and manioc taste with rice? Why do you think Mother finally decides to leave Saigon?
  4. Why does Hà love papaya so much? What might the fruit represent for her? How is that the same as or different from what the chick means for Brother Khôi?
  5. On the ship, Hà touches the sailor's hairy arm and Mother slaps her hand away (p. 95). Why does Hà take a hair? How is her behavior on the ship similar to or different from that of the kids at school in Alabama when they notice Hà's features?
  6. Hà describes her American town as "clean, quiet loneliness" (p. 122). How is life in Alabama different from Saigon? Describe each setting and the differences between the two. Are there any similarities?
  7. What do you know about the cowboy who sponsors the family? Who do you think he is, and what are some reasons why you think he might have become a sponsor? What about Mrs. Washington: Why might she have volunteered to be a teacher for Hà?
  8. Hà says that the cowboy's wife insists they "keep out of her neighbors' eyes" (p. 116). Why would she do that? Why would neighbors slam their doors when Hà's family comes to say hello (p. 164)?
  9. Why would sponsors prefer applications that say "Christians" (p. 108)? Do you agree with Hà's mother that "all beliefs are pretty much the same" (p. 108)? Do you think she did the right thing by saying that the family is Christian?
  10. Why is it so important to Hà's mother that her children learn English? If your family moved to a foreign country right now, would you be eager to learn the language?  Why, or why not?
  11. Hà struggles to learn English and hates feeling stupid. She asks, "Who will believe I was reading Nhất Linh?" and then, "Who here knows who he is?" (p. 130). What do you think is behind her frustration? What does she want people to understand about her and her family?
  12. Brother Quang says that Americans' generosity is "to ease the guilt of losing the war" (p. 124). What is he talking about? Why doesn't he take their generosity at face value?
  13. What does Mother mean when she tells Hà to "learn to compromise" (p. 233)? Is she talking about dried papaya or something else? Give an example of a compromise that Mother has made.

Activities:

  1. Have your students look up Tết. When is it celebrated? What are some traditional activities that are part of the celebration? Are there Tết celebrations in your town that they could attend? Ask students to make posters inviting classmates to a party for Tết, explaining what they should expect and helping them get excited for the event.
  2. Have students look up pictures of the fall of Saigon or the "burned, naked girl" crying and running down a dirt road (p. 194). Then ask them to find pictures of papayas and Tết. Have them ask friends and family which set of pictures they recognize, and if they remember when they first saw them or what they thought. Discuss with the class: Why would Hà say that Miss Scott should have shown pictures of papayas instead of the pictures of war? How are the war pictures different from the pictures in Mrs. Washington's book (p. 201)?
  3. In the Author's Note, Thanhha Lai says she hopes that "after you finish this book that you sit close to someone you love and implore that person to tell and tell and tell their story" (p. 262). As a class, generate a list of questions for students' families. Have each student choose a family member and interview him/her about what life was like during the Vietnam War or another conflict that had an impact on his/her life. Ask students to share stories with their classmates and discuss the similarities and differences of what they learned from their family members.

(Source: http://harperstacksblog.harpercollins.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Inside-Out-and-Back-Again-DG.pdf)

Writing Activity:

View this photograph. Write one paragraph analyzing the photograph. Based on what you know from reading the text "Inside Out & Back Again" what do you think is happening in this picture? Who is in the picture? How do you think the children being photographed feel?