Set in 1975, Thanhha Lai's Inside Out & Back Again is a novel written in verse that follows ten-year-old protagonist Kim Hà and her family as they flee Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War and adapt to life as refugees in Alabama.
Published in 2011, the coming-of-age novel is based on Lai's own experiences as a child displaced by the conflict in Vietnam. Inside Out & Back Again was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and a 2012 Newbery Honor.
