Inside Out & Back Again Analysis

Although halfway around the world from each other, both Saigon and Alabama—the two main settings for the book—are riddled with conflict. Each place is host to its own sources of struggle for ou...

This poetic novel (no really, it's a collection of poems) is written like a diary, so the entire thing is in first person. It's also pretty much entirely in the present tense, as though Hà is maki...

Young Adult LiteratureWe know that Inside Out and Back Again is for young readers for a few reasons. First—and importantly—the language is really accessible. No big fancy words, no super compli...

InnocentHà is only ten, and we're reading her story, in her words, so it's not surprising that the tone in this book is innocent. After all, though she's wise for her age, she's still just a kid....

Inside Out and Back Again is a novel in verse, meaning it has a plot but it's written as a bunch of short poems. As far as these poems go, though, don't think they're going to be flowery and abstra...

In the beginning of Inside Out and Back Again, Hà's mother visits a fortune teller called the I Ching Teller of Fate, and Hà writes that, "This year he predicts/ our lives will twist inside out"...

A full year has passed since the book has opened, which means it's Tet again, though now they're in Alabama instead of Saigon. While everyone else in the family is silently praying, Hà finishes ea...

Inside Out and Back Again is pretty much accessible to readers of any level. The lines are short and simple, showing quick little scenes, images, and thoughts, plus the content is uncomplicated and...

Peachy (Papaya-y) KeenLife in Hà's world is easy and normal. She is a little girl who is bothered by her older brothers, loves her mother, and generally feels comfortable in her home in Saigon, Vi...

Thanhha Lai actually has eight brothers and sisters, not three, like Hà.(Source.)Lai used to be a journalist but she thought it was a snore.(Source.)Even though Lai wrote this book in poetry, she...

Our main character and narrator is a ten-year-old for this book, which is about as unsteamy as it gets, and though war is in the background of the novel, we never see any action, so there also isn'...

The Vietnam War (throughout)