Tag: Vietnam

Posted in Award Winners, MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Inside Out and Back Again

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

inside outThe Newbery honor book Inside Out and Back Again (HarperCollins, 2011) by Thanhha Lai is written in verse snapshots. Here’s a brief summary of the story:
It’s 1975, 10-year-old Hà, her mother and 3 older brothers must leave Saigon, Vietnam. Schools were closed a month early, the president has resigned, the communists are coming. They pack up and head for the Navy ships to escape. They end up on the island of Guam and then in Alabama.

Thanhha brings Hà and her family to life. I love the line: “It’s hard to be grateful when you feel stupid because you don’t know the language.”

I also enjoyed the inside story on how the author wrote this award winning story. Read the article here. Read more about her and her books here.

Posted in MG Novels, So Many Good Books

The Mailbox

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

the-mailboxFrom the compelling first line of The Mailbox (Delacorte, 2006) by Audrey Shafer to the end, this story held me in its grips.

Twelve-year-old Gabe, who has bounced from foster family to foster family until moved in with his uncle Vernon, a Vietnam vet, comes home to find Uncle Vernon has died. Not wanting to believe it and fearful of going back into the foster system, Gabe goes to school the next morning as if nothing has happened. When he comes home, the body is gone and Gabe gets the courage to keep going from the notes left in his mailbox and the gift of a dog named Guppy. This is one of those MUST READ books.

Author Audrey Shafer is also an MD. Read more here.