Inside Out and Back Again Review

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


While I was reading the books that were selected for our Mock-Newbery Award this year, I found myself favoring the one just read. And it happened again. I really enjoyed Inside Out and Back Again and it is my choice for our Mock-Newbery Award. I was hesitant to make that decision because I was worried that maybe I thought it was the best because it was the freshest in my mind, but I decided that is not true here are some of my reasons:

It's age appropriate. While Okay For Now and Small as an Elephant aren't necessarily inappropriate, I can't see myself suggesting them to 8 - 12 year-olds. And while Junonia was age appropriate, there wasn't enough to the plot to be able to "sell" it.

It's written in verse. While poetry may turn some readers off, it may appeal to reluctant readers (not as many words to a page).

It's historical fiction. Historical fiction is often assigned reading for schools and you can only suggest Johnny Tremain so many times.

It has a strong female main character.

It's a good description of what it's like to live during wartime and what it's like to be an immigrant. People who move to a new country, for whatever reason, where language and customs are, well, foreign, are incredibly brave.

It'll be interesting to see what they results are of this year's Mock-Newbery Award.



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