All Kinds of Poetry: Verse Novel: Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai 

Bibliography 

Lai, Thanhha. Inside out & Back Again. New York: Harper, 2011.

Review 

Inside Out and Back Again starts shares the story of a Vietnamese family from the perspective of the youngest member Ha. Ha lives in Saigon Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War, and everything, according to Ha, is moving along swimmingly, until a family friend notifies the family that it is time to evacuate. The family does evacuate Vietnam and takes a treacherous journey by boat to America. While fleeing to America was the safe thing to do for Ha and her family, the family feels completely lost in America. In addition to life adjustments in America, Ha has to adjust to the cruelty of children. At the height of the novel Ha is facing a physical fight with a bully who has been tormenting her since her arrival in the American school. Fortunately for Ha her older, much cooler brother Vu, swoops in saves her on his motorcycle.

Lai tells a timeless story about a girl going through life changes with the backdrop of dramatic events such as the Vietnam War.   Lai tells this story through verse novel organized into four parts over the time period of one year. Because the voices is that of a ten-year-old girl the poetry doesn't not have strict rhyme schemes, or elaborate metaphors, but it does experiment with line length, and imagery. For example Ha writes, "Uncle Son flares elbows into wings,/ lunges foward/protecting his children." Lai fills the pages with these simple yet powerful descriptions that make the novel a pleasure to read.

Spotlight

Rainbow takes place in part three of the novel just after the family is starting American schools and getting acquainted with life in America. The poem is a reflection of Ha's description of her new, different looking classmates.

Rainbow

I face the class.
MiSSS SScott speaks.
Each classmate says something.

I don't understand,
but I see.

Fire hair on skin dotted with spots.
Fuzzy dark hair on skin shiny as lacquer.
Hair the color of root on milky skin.
Lots of braids on milk chocolate.
White hair on pink boy.
Honey hair with orange ribbons on see-through skin.
Hair with barrettes in all colors on bronze bread.

I'm the only
straight black
on olive skin.

Follow-up Activity 

I love this poem because it describes most people in the class without saying "she has brown hair" or "she has red hair" it challenges the reader to make these pictures in their minds, but also done so artfully. I would use this poem to teach show not tell. Show not tell is a classic lesson in writing class where you encourage children to look a picture and describe what is there without simply naming the item. I would challenge the students to write a poem based on their classmates without using their classmates names or labeling them "kid in third row". These would make for great getting to know you poems to display at the beginning of the school year.