40 Fun Facts About Inside Out and Back Again

In Inside Out & Back Again, which southern US state does Hà's refugee family settle in after a sponsor chooses them?

Alabama is also where the author's own family settled in 1975. In the novel, Hà sometimes wishes she were back in wartime Saigon instead of on its quiet streets.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which fruit tree, twice Hà's height, does she check every morning in her Saigon backyard?

Papaya is the taste Hà misses most in America. Before fleeing, the family cuts down the biggest fruit, still not fully ripe, so the Communists cannot eat it.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which martial arts film star does Hà's brother Vũ idolize, even borrowing his surname?

Bruce Lee is why Vũ votes to leave Saigon: he wants to see where his hero lived. In America he renames himself Vu Lee and teaches the neighbors his moves.

In Inside Out & Back Again, on which Pacific island does Hà's family live in a tent city after weeks adrift?

Guam sheltered more than 100,000 Vietnamese evacuees in 1975. In the novel an American ship tows Hà's crippled vessel there, and her brother Vũ becomes the camp's head chef.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which breakfast food does the bully Pink Boy compare Hà's face to?

A pancake was something Hà's mother had never heard of, so a sobbing Hà could not even explain the insult. It came on Halloween, a holiday nobody had told her about.

Rather than prose chapters, in what form did Thanhha Lai write the novel Inside Out & Back Again?

Free verse won out after Lai first tried ordinary prose. She felt the short, spare lines came closer to how Vietnamese sounds.

Inside Out & Back Again opens at Tết 1975, which the Vietnamese zodiac names the Year of which animal?

Cat takes the Rabbit's place in the Vietnamese zodiac, so the same year belongs to the Rabbit in China. Hà turns ten that morning, because everyone's birthday is counted at Tết.

In Inside Out & Back Again, Hà calls her family's sponsor a cowboy, but what does he actually do for a living?

He sells cars, and came to the refugee camp looking for a young man to train as a mechanic. Hà is crushed to learn he has never even ridden a horse.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which American treat from the sponsor does Hà's mother spit out?

Fried chicken arrives in a paper bucket, but the family is used to birds killed fresh from the yard, which taste sweeter. Hà's brother Vũ gags on his piece.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what treasured thing does Hà bury at sea along with her brother's dead chick?

Her doll was the one treasured item Hà chose to pack when fleeing Saigon, its cheek already bitten by mice. She gives it up to comfort Khôi and misses it at once.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what does Hà's brother Vũ ride up on to scare Pink Boy away after school?

A motorcycle roars up just as Pink Boy gets back on his feet, and the bully hurries away. Vũ then collects Hà every day, and classmates suddenly want to sit with her.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what has been the fate of Hà's navy father for nine years when the story opens?

Missing in action since a navy mission when Hà was a baby, he is known to her only through family stories. Her mother sets out an altar on the date he vanished.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which faith does Hà's mother practice at home, chanting before an altar with incense?

Buddhism stays the family's private faith even after Hà's mother writes a different one on their forms, having learned that American sponsors prefer Christians.

In Inside Out & Back Again, in which school subject does Hà outshine Pink Boy at the board, leaving him red-faced?

Math lets Hà feel smart again: she solves 18 times 42 while the bully flounders. Back in Saigon she had already been learning fractions.

Saigon, the city Hà flees in Inside Out & Back Again, was later renamed for which communist leader?

Ho Chi Minh is the name Hà's mother says changed everything in her northern childhood, when families found their houses suddenly belonged to the government.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which retired teacher next door hugs Hà's family and offers to tutor her?

Mrs. Washington rewards each new English word Hà memorizes with a bite of fruit or a cookie, and later packs her a lunch every school day.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which ceremony does Hà's family undergo at the sponsor's church to win over the neighbors?

Baptism in a small pool terrifies Hà, who is ready to jump in when a preacher pushes her mother under. Only afterwards does the sponsor's wife finally smile at them.

In Inside Out & Back Again, where does Hà hide to eat lunch during her first weeks at an American school?

In the bathroom, Hà eats saved dinner rolls, because a cafeteria split between light-skinned and dark-skinned tables leaves no obvious place for her.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which cafeteria food, striped in a flag's colors, baffles Hà on her first school day?

A hot dog, smeared with red and yellow condiments, carries the colors of her homeland's flag, and Hà briefly thinks she is being mocked. She leaves her tray and waits in the hall.

Which major American literary prize, in its young people's category, did Inside Out & Back Again win in 2011?

National Book Award judges were honoring a debut: this was Thanhha Lai's first novel, and it had taken her about fifteen years to write.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what does Hà secretly do before dawn at Tết that only a male should do first?

Touches the floor: by tradition the first feet down at Tết bless the house, and they should be a man's. Months later a guilty Hà confesses, fearing she ruined the family's luck.

In Inside Out & Back Again, on which American holiday must refugee families in the camp choose where to resettle?

The Fourth of July is deadline day in the camp. Hà's mother is about to write down another country when a stranger whispers that America gives scholarships to hard-working sons.

In Inside Out & Back Again, where in the sponsor's house does his wife keep Hà's family out of the neighbors' sight?

The basement window sits so high that Hà must stand on a chair set on a table to see out. Her mother shrugs that they still have more room than they had on the ship.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which gemstone from Hà's father does her mother lose at work, taking it as a sign?

The amethyst, set in a ring, was the gift Hà's father brought back from navy training in America. Once the stone is lost, her mother accepts that he is truly gone.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which best friend of Hà's leaves Saigon early with her wealthy family?

TiTi heads for Vũng Tàu, where rich families board cruise ships out of the country. Watching her go, Hà is glad her own family is too poor to leave.

In Inside Out & Back Again, whom does Hà's mother consult every new year, hearing in 1975 that upheaval is coming?

A fortune teller warns that the family's lives will be turned inside out, the image behind the title. A year later, with none to visit in America, Hà's mother makes the prediction herself.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what is Hà's oldest brother Quang studying at college before the family flees Saigon?

Engineering is what catches the sponsor's eye in the refugee camp. In America Quang takes it up again at night college, helped by Christmas gifts of money and a textbook.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which US state holds the second tent city where Hà's family waits for a sponsor?

Florida was one of four states with reception centers for the 1975 evacuees. In the novel, famous singers from Saigon perform there while families wait to be chosen.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which Vietnamese staple reaches the island camp and makes its canned beef edible?

Fish sauce, or nước mắm, is handed out in teacups, and food lines soon stretch to the beach. Hà once gulps a cupful by mistake, thinking it is tea.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what happened to Tom, the son of the neighbor who teaches Hà English?

He died in Vietnam at twenty, yet his mother shows Hà the photographs he took of a country he both loved and hated. She even lets Hà take the album home.

In Inside Out & Back Again, whose cowboy films do refugees flock to at the island camp's outdoor movie nights?

Clint Eastwood draws the crowds, with Hà's brother Quang translating aloud. When the hero is John Wayne instead, most people go swimming.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which South Vietnamese leader does Hà watch resign in tears on television?

President Thiệu wept and promised never to leave the country, and Hà's mother raised a doubtful eyebrow. He flew to Taiwan within a week of resigning.

In Inside Out & Back Again, in which California city does Hà's brother Vũ plan to attend cooking school?

San Francisco is where his martial-arts idol was born, which is the real draw. Vũ had wanted to cook rather than repeat his last year of high school.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which country singer did Hà's brother Vũ once admire enough to make himself a cowboy belt?

Johnny Cash was Vũ's hero before martial arts took over. The homemade belt is among the things the family leaves behind when it flees Saigon.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which Tết rice cake does Hà's mother remake in America, wrapped in cloth, not banana leaves?

Bánh chưng is normally made from glutinous rice, mung beans and pork. Her version uses black beans instead, and Hà decides it is different but not bad.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which country does Hà's mother reject as too cold when Uncle Sơn suggests it?

Canada is where Uncle Sơn's sister lives. The cold is only an excuse: Hà's mother knows his wife would not welcome a second family tagging along.

Before publishing Inside Out & Back Again, what work did Thanhha Lai do in California after college in Texas?

Newspaper reporter was her first career: she spent about two years at the Orange County Register covering Little Saigon, then earned a Master of Fine Arts at New York University.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what is Hà named after, as her mother reminds her whenever her brothers tease?

The Golden River is her mother's reminder whenever the boys mock her name. Hà takes her own revenge by hiding their sandals, so the scorching ground burns their feet.

In Inside Out & Back Again, which country does Hà's mother start to pick in the camp before a stranger suggests America?

France had taken in many Vietnamese when the country split in two. Hà's mother has begun writing its capital when the stranger speaks up.

In Inside Out & Back Again, what does Hà give her friend Pam in January as a belated Christmas present?

Flower seeds in a tin, carried all the way from Saigon, ease Hà's embarrassment: Pam had given her a Christmas present and she had nothing to offer in return.