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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSTen-year-old Hà lives in Saigon with Mother and her three older brothers. Her father was captured on a navy mission when she was almost one, and that is all the family knows. Told in short poems that almost all end with a date, the story follows one year of Hà's life, starting on Tết, the Lunar New Year of 1975. Hà wants to be the first to see the fruit on her papaya tree ripen, but prices keep rising and the war keeps creeping closer. As the Communists close in on Saigon, the family escapes on a crowded navy ship. After a long wait in refugee camps, a sponsor brings them to Alabama, where Hà must learn English, with all its hissing rules, and start fourth grade at a school where she understands almost nothing.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Inside Out & Back Again
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Inside Out & Back Again. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do a brother and sister hook pinkies over a just-hatched chick, swearing not to leave?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Before dawn Brother Khôi shows Hà a downy yellow chick chirping in his palm. He makes her promise that no matter what Mother decides, they will stay, so he can protect his chick and she can protect her papayas.
- First half
In what book does a girl vow to stop mocking Bruce Lee after a shoulder ride through a crowded port?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Thousands of people learn about the navy ships and crowd the port, so Hà can see nothing but sweaty strangers. Brother Vũ puts Mother in front of him, lifts Hà onto his shoulders, and pushes his brothers forward, and Hà promises herself never to make fun of his hero Bruce Lee.
- First half
In what book do camp moviegoers cheer for Clint Eastwood but boo John Wayne and go swimming?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
In the Guam camp, movies are projected onto a white sheet in the evenings while Brother Quang translates into a microphone. A young cowboy like Clint Eastwood gets cheers, but when it is an old cowboy like John Wayne, most people boo and leave to swim.
- Second half
In what book does a dictionary turn a baby-book sentence into "eyeballs stain move"?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Hà looks up every word of the sentence Jane sees Spot run and gets nonsense, since Jane isn't listed and spot means a stain. Brother Quang explains that Jane is a girl's name and Spot is a common name for a dog, and Hà wonders who will believe she used to read the writer Nhất Linh when she can't read a baby book.
- Second half
In what book does a sausage smeared with yellow and red sauces seem to mock a flag?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
At her first school lunch, Hà doesn't know where to sit or how to eat the pink sausage tucked in bread shaped like a corncob. For a moment she thinks the yellow and red sauces are making fun of the Vietnamese flag, then remembers that no one in Alabama likely knows its colors. She sets down her tray and waits in the hallway.
- Near the end
In what book does a mother's stern "NOW!" finally get a butcher to grind her pork?
✓ Answer
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Mother is buying pork for egg rolls, but when Hà asks the butcher to grind it, he slams down the meat and motions them away, and Mother's please comes out as Peezzz. Mother keeps pressing the buzzer, speaks to him in stern, steady Vietnamese, and ends with a clear NOW!, and he takes the meat to the grinder.
