Skip to main content

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by ann e. burg and INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai


I had to post these two books together.  They are both about Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War.   (You know I love a good war story.)  They are both told in verse.  And they are both REALLY good. 

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by ann e. burg

copyright date: April 2009
primarily marketed for: grades 6-8

Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee 2012

Tells the story of a 12 year-old-boy whose mother is Vietnamese and father is an American soldier that never returns.  When life becomes too dangerous in Vietnam, Matt’s mother seizes the opportunity to send him to America as soon as she is given the chance.  Matt is adopted by a loving couple, but that doesn’t mean the memories of a war-torn Vietnam and the family he left behind don’t haunt him.

Although it is not likely all the experiences would happen to the same kid, it sure makes for a moving story.  Matt not only battles his past, but he also struggles with bullies on his baseball team and the demons of wounded Vietnam War veterans who ultimately join him on a journey towards healing.

This is a book with lots of heavy ideas packed in very few words.  Be prepared to tear up.


INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai

copyright date: 2011
primarily marketed for: grades 4-8

National Book Award Winner

I read this one soon after finishing All the Broken Pieces.  Because Matt’s experience in Vietnam was primarily influenced by full-blown war, he did not have many memories of his culture or previous way of life before the influence of war.  So, I was surprised that this book started by painting a moment representative of Vietnamese culture. 

This book differs from All the Broken Pieces in that it is told from the point of view of a girl, the family comes to America together, and the author largely wrote from her own experience.  However, both stories feature a missing dad and bullies. 

Reading Inside Out & Back Again deepened my understanding of the effects war has on individual lives.  It is a beautifully told story with no easy resolutions. 

Comments

  1. The first sounds good, & poignant as you said. I've read the second & loved it. It's a good look into the experiences of those who have to leave their beloved homes, even though it means safety. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I loved Inside Out & Back Again. My 12-year-old daughter and I have decided it will be our next pick for our mother-daughter book club. I think we are also going to read Shaun Tan's The Arrival alongside it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I HUNT KILLERS by Barry Lyga

copyright date: April 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (high school) I’m just going to put this out there:  I like books about death.  I didn’t know this about myself as a reader until my students this year pointed out how many of the books I booktalk (basically all of them) involve someone who died or someone who is dying. I am not sure if that is just a me thing, or if that is a common thread in books since it is such a major part of life and conflict.  I’d like to think it is the latter. At any rate, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga , is obviously my kind of book—it is quality literature with sophisticated vocabulary, and it is about death.  Jasper Dent, known as Jazz, is a teenager who is struggling to overcome the odds, to say the least.  His father, Billy Cornelius Dent, is the most infamous serial killer, with victims totaling triple digits.  Since his father’s arrest, Jazz has had to care for his grandmother ...

JAKE AND LILY by Jerry Spinelli

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: intermediate readers (8 and up) This is another book for younger readers.   So, although the time you spend actually reading Jake and Lily by Jerry Spinelli won’t be long, the time this story spends traveling around in your heart will be immeasurable. Spinelli is a master at getting straight to the heart of what keeps people from accepting one another: differences.   Through the story of young twins Jake and Lily, he tells a story of tolerance, acceptance, and ultimately friendship.   Jake and Lily have a very special relationship.   They are able to connect with one another through dreams and across distances.   In fact, as they write their stories for us in alternating chapters, they don’t even need to read to know what they other has written.   Conflict settles into their lives when growing up threatens to come between them.   As Jake begins to spend more time with a g...

NOTHING SPECIAL by Geoff Herbach

copyright date: May 2012 primarily marketed for: young adults (12 and up) This is Geoff Herbach 's sequel to Stupid Fast and continues Felton Reinstein’s story in true Felton fashion.   This is definitely a smart guy book—a book for smart guys, who definitely love a good chuckle. The story opens at the end of summer with Felton typing a letter to his girlfriend Aleah while flying in an airplane on his way to retrieve his younger brother from Florida.   The entire book is written as one giant letter to Aleah explaining how his summer led him to this moment in time.   After Felton and his brother Andrew got some help with their mother’s issues, Felton went right back to throwing himself into football and track—because he is stupid fast.   However, Andrew did not cope quite as well as Felton did.   Felton ignores his brother’s cries for help and continuously lets him down.   His brother ends up cooking up an elaborate plan to run ...