The Inspiring Story of Thanhh Lai and "Inside Out and Back Again
Thanhh Lai, a Vietnamese refugee who fled to the U.S. as a child, overcame challenges to become a renowned writer. Her semi-autobiographical novel, "Inside Out and Back Again," beautifully portrays her journey from war-torn Vietnam to a new life in Alabama, capturing the struggles of adaptation and acceptance. The book has received numerous prestigious awards, including the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Newbery Honor. Through her work, Lai sheds light on themes of resilience, cultural identity, and the power of storytelling.
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Thanhh Li Presented by Fran Kyrtatas Children are naturally curious, and if left on their own without prescribed adult prejudices, they ll do fine by each other. After all, what can be better than uncovering a pure, unspoiled mystery? -Thanhh L i
First, you need to know how to pronounce her name! Click below to find out, and to learn a little bit about the story and meaning behind it. THANHHA LAI
About Thanhh Li She fled Vietnam with her family on a navy ship when she was just ten years old, and her father was captured by the Viet Cong. She had to acclimate to her new life in Montgomery, Alabama, where she struggled with a new language and culture. She graduated from the University of Texas and wrote for an Orange County California Paper, The Register. It took her 15 years to finish the book that would eventually become Inside Out and Back Again. She currently lives in New York with her family and teaches writing at Parsons: The New School for Design.
Thanhh Li is best known for her free verse novel, Inside Out and Back Again, which is semi- autobiographical. This beautifully told story takes the reader from Vietnam to Alabama in 1975. Just as Saigon falls to the communists, ten year old H and her family flee Vietnam by navy ship. After weeks at sea, with little food and water, they end up in a refugee camp in Guam, and then Florida, before settling in Alabama with a sponsor. Ha and her family must adjust to a very new world where she struggles to learn English and fit in, and where no one else looks like her. She also must accept that her father will not be coming home.
Just a few awards National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 2011 Newbery Honor, 2012 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor for Older Children, 2012 ALA Notable Children 's Book 2012, Middle; Booklist 2011 Editors' Choice, Books for Youth, Fiction, Middle Reader Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Books of 2011 Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books 2011, Fiction SLJ Best Books of 2011, Fiction Booklist Lasting Connections of 2012, Social Studies Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts, 2012 CCBC Choices, 2012 Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2012, World History & Culture
Inside Out and Back Again Is a fantastic middle grade novel, and can work for 4th-8th graders. Younger students will need assistance with pronunciations of names and places, and all students will need background information about the Vietnam War. Would be terrific as a teacher read aloud, whole class novel study, literature circle, or book club. Can be paired with a Social Studies curriculum or character building lessons.
She must have heard Ha, as in funny ha-ha-ha. Why does Thanhh L i s work belong in every library? Her books promote global awareness. She points to her chest: MiSSS SScott, saying it three times, each louder with even more spit. She fakes a laugh. I repeat, H , and wish I knew enough English to tell her to listen for the diacritical mark, this one directing the tone downward. 58,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than 3 million lives were lost; we should not forget. I repeat, MiSSS Sscott, careful to hiss every s. Bullying and xenophobia are important issues that are brought to the forefront. It is vital that our children are taught to have empathy for others. She doesn t seem impressed. We continue to have refugees coming into our country, from many parts of the world; the issue continues to be very relevant. My new teacher tilts her head back, fakes an even sadder laugh. She gives us all another reason to LOVE poetry! I tap my own chest: H . p.140 Inside Out and Back Again
Wish Mother would stop chiding me to stay calm, which makes it worse. Wishes I keep to myself: One of my favorite passages: Wish I had a sister to jump rope with and sew doll clothes and hug for warmth in the middle of the night. Wish I could do what boys do Birthday Wishes and let the sun darken my skin, and scars grid my knees. We learn a lot about H in this repeated poem. Wish I could let my hair grow, Wish father could come home so I can stop daydreaming that he will appear in my classroom in a white navy uniform and extend his hand toward me for all my classmates to see. but Mother says the shorter the better to beat Saigon s heat and lice. It is honest, innocent, and sad all at the same time. Wish I could lose my chubby cheeks. Mostly I wish Father would appear in our doorway and make Mother s lips curl upward, lifting them from a permanent frown of worries. H s father has been missing since she was a baby. Wish I could stay calm no matter what my brothers say. p.30 Inside Out and Back Again
Thanhha Lais Second Novel takes us back to Vietnam, when 12 year old Vietnamese-American Mia (Mai) travels with her grandmother, to find out the truth about the grandfather she never met, who went missing during the war. Vietnam is the last place Mia wants to spend her summer, when she could be surfing with her friends in California. She finds out that there is a lot more to this noisy country, full of strange foods, traffic, and fast-talking relatives. New York Times bestseller New York Times Review Notable Book Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year NPR's Best Books of 2015
I wont learn Vietnamese. Listen, Slowly is A sigh. Then be mute. Ugh. I ll start making B s. not written in verse, but is a realistic fiction novel that would appeal to 5th-8th grade students. If you can stand it, go ahead. UGH!! I ll start wearing eyeliner. Then get racoon eyes. So many Americans are immigrants, or are the children or grandchildren of immigrants, and the clash between cultures is one that many of us can connect to. I ll wear- Listen, B has sacrificed everything for us. We ve raised you to be considerate, so act like it. Tween and Teen readers of all cultural backgrounds will be able to relate to Mia (Mai). p.25, Listen, Slowly A conversation between Mai (Mia) and her father shortly after they arrive in Vietnam.
Listen, Slowly gives readers another reason Connect to the Social Studies Curriculum. to learn about the beautiful country, people, foods, culture, history, and language of Vietnam. Lead a research project.
Raising Children Inside a War This amazing poem was published by the New York Times on April 21, 2017. Please follow the link to read the full poem. It is too lengthy for me to include in its entirety. See the beginning of the poem on the following slide. Raising Children Inside a War I was 2 years old in 1967, too young to remember much about the war. So recently I sat down to interview my 86-year-old mother. Here s her story. It s written in a prose-poem style to reflect how my mother thinks in Vietnamese. -THANHH L I
1967 Our family n T t to, welcomed grandly, the Year of the Goat so the younger children could believe our lives in S i G n remained unfractured even though their father was captured by the Communists the previous spring. and a pair of blue school pants. The two youngest girls wore matching pink dresses from a French boutique. How they laughed and ate, same as when their father was home. I told the six youngest, ages 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2, father was training again with the United States Navy. They were to study and make him proud. I hired an expert to wrap in banana leaves twenty square-shaped b nh chungs. I believed without blinking their father would be returned. The Communists were fighting to unite the country. Why would they harm a fellow northerner who never shot a gun, who enlisted in the south s navy to earn an officer s salary for his family? Like most young men in the north he first joined the nationalists to expel the French from Vietnam. But soon he understood he would likely die in the jungle, by a lake, in a war where nationalists flipped into Communists and claimed his ancestral land for their cause. He went from H N i to S i G n when the country divided in 1954, and I joined him as a mother of three. I hired an expert to wrap in banana leaves twenty square-shaped b nh chungs. We stayed awake night before the eve boiling the T t cakes in a steel water drum. All arms stiffened from stirring a pot thick with sugary mung beans, stirred and stirred then poured ch kho onto a tray wide as a mat. Morning of T t each child received crisp money in red envelopes. The oldest daughter just out of high school received a floral-patterned o d i to wear to her first job as a translator. Her father gone, she must work as I was weaning the last child. The six boys each owned two new white school button downs
Interviews with Thanhh Li: School Library Journal http://www.slj.com/2012/01/authors-illustrators/interviews/the-inside-story-thanhha-lai/ NPR http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/11/29/142905830/book-award-winners-tale- echoes-those-told-by-other-vietnamese-refugees Publishers Weekly http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/49551- pw-talks-with-nba-winner-thanhha-lai.html National Book Foundation http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2011_ypl_lai_interv.html#.UyC3p_ldVIk Orange Coast Magazine http://www.orangecoast.com/february2012/thanhhalai.aspx Publishing Perspectives http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/12/thanhha-lai-from-wartime-saigon-to-the- national-book-awards/
Interviews continued NPR All Things Considered http://www.npr.org/2015/02/12/385793936/listen-slowly-about-connecting-to-a-heritage-you- dont-know TIME for Kids http://www.timeforkids.com/node/220286/print Teaching Books http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=11046&a=1
Viet Kids Thanhh L i started this non- profit to purchase much needed bicycles for poor students in Vietnam, to dramatically cut down on their long school commutes. 30-50 bicycles are purchased each year, along with funding for tuition, uniforms, and rice. Check out: https://www.thanhhalai.com/vi et-kids/ if you would like to make a donation.
References Books and Articles Lai, T. (April 21, 2017). Raising Children Inside a War. New York Times. Lai, T. (2011). Inside Out and Back Again. New York, New York: Scholastic by arrangement with Harper Collins Children s Books. Lai, T. (2015). Listen, Slowly. New York, New York: Harper Collins Children s Books. Websites Coffey, H. June 21, 2017, Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/48-hours-in/ho-chi-minh-city-guide-what-to-do-in-saigon-weekend-break-48-hours-vietnam-best-restaurants-bars-a7799301.html Frierson, J. March 30, 2013. A Biography of Thanhha Lai. https://beyondthepalebooks.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/a-biography-of-thanhha-lai/ Thanhha Lai, Audio Name Pronunciation. https://www.teachingbooks.net/pronounce.cgi?aid=15573&a=1 Vietnam War, 2009, A&E Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history Thanhha Lai s Website https://www.thanhhalai.com
