Title: Inside Out & Back Again
Author: Thanhha Lai
Copyright: January 2nd, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Reading Level: 9-12 years
Lexile Score: 800L
Suggested Delivery: Small group read or read aloud
Words to describe the book: optimistic, enlightening, hopeful, encouraging, inspirational
Summary: A story of a young girl named Ha who lives in her country, Saigon, during the Vietnam War. Once the war reaches her country, Ha's family is forced to leave her home and board a ship to America. Ha, her mother, and brother's begin a new journey in Alabama. Although it isn't easy, Ha and her family slowly adjust to live in America. They hope their move brings success and happiness for their family.
Key Vocabulary:
Definitions found at http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Before Reading Activity:
Electronic Resources:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/vietnam/
A great website for student's to learn about the culture of Vietnam and the background information of the country. It provides students with the geography, fast facts, nature, government and economy, etc.
http://tinyurl.com/b2jnj
An interactive website where student's can explore and understand the immigration process. There is a virtual field trip to Ellis Island and a collection of stories about children's journeys to the United States.
Writing Activity:
Activity found on http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/guides/inside_out_guide.pdf
Author: Thanhha Lai
Copyright: January 2nd, 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Reading Level: 9-12 years
Lexile Score: 800L
Suggested Delivery: Small group read or read aloud
Words to describe the book: optimistic, enlightening, hopeful, encouraging, inspirational
Summary: A story of a young girl named Ha who lives in her country, Saigon, during the Vietnam War. Once the war reaches her country, Ha's family is forced to leave her home and board a ship to America. Ha, her mother, and brother's begin a new journey in Alabama. Although it isn't easy, Ha and her family slowly adjust to live in America. They hope their move brings success and happiness for their family.
Key Vocabulary:
- Saigon - largest city in Vietnam
- Migration - moving from one place to another
- Conviction - a firmly held belief or opinoin
- Tolerable - capable of being accepted
- Justify - to show or defend
- Solitude - the state or situation of being alone
Definitions found at http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Before Reading Activity:
- Activate student's prior knowledge. Use a KWL Chart by asking student's what they know about the Vietnam War. What do they want to know? What do they want to learn? Show pictures and clips of videos that will be beneficial to help build their background knowledge when reading Inside Out & Back Again.
- The book is broken up into four different sections. Use the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity where student's are instructed to stop during reading and make predictions. Based on each section in Inside Out & Back Again, have students make predictions and then re-evaluate them based on supporting statements from the text.
- This book is great for student book talks. Students can discuss the similarities and differences in Ha's home in Vietnam and her home in Alabama. They can discuss challenges the family faced as well as the important traits of each character in the story.
Electronic Resources:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/vietnam/
A great website for student's to learn about the culture of Vietnam and the background information of the country. It provides students with the geography, fast facts, nature, government and economy, etc.
http://tinyurl.com/b2jnj
An interactive website where student's can explore and understand the immigration process. There is a virtual field trip to Ellis Island and a collection of stories about children's journeys to the United States.
Writing Activity:
- The author Tahnhha Lai says she hopes the book inspires readers to "sit close to someone you love and implore that person to tell and tell their story." Ask students to have a conversation with a relative or someone they love. Have them ask their relative or loved one about their story by incorporating details and building ideas based off of Ha's experiences. Questions that can guide them during the interview can be: How were things different when you were a child? What were some challenges your family faced while growing up? What did you fear the most? What did you look forward to? How was school? Have students write about their interview in narrative form.
Activity found on http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/guides/inside_out_guide.pdf