2 April 2011 INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai, HarperCollins, February 2011, 272p., ISBN: 978-0-06-196278-3

 

"In what former President Jimmy Carter calls 'one of the most racist campaigns in modern southern political history,' the Wallace campaign aired TV ads with slogans such as 'Do you want the Black Block electing your governor?' and circulated an ad showing a white girl surrounded by seven black boys, with the slogan 'Wake up Alabama!  Blacks vow to take over Alabama.'"

-- from the section of the Wikipedia article on George C. Wallace that discusses Alabama's 1970 gubernatorial campaign.  Wallace (who does not appear or get mentioned in the book) was serving his third term as Alabama Governor in 1975, the year INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN takes place there.

 

"Choice

  

Into each pack:

one pair of pants,

one pair of shorts,

three pairs of underwear,

two shirts,

sandals,

toothbrush and paste,

soap,ten palms of rice grains,

three clumps of cooked rice,

one choice.

 

I choose my doll,

once lent to a neighbor

who left it outside,

where mice bit

her left cheek

and right thumb.

 

I love her more

for her scars.

I dress her

in a red and white dress

with matching hat and booties

that Mother knitted."

 

There are many possessions left behind when ten year-old Ha, her mother, and her three older brothers flee South Vietnam aboard a ship in 1975, just prior to the fall of Saigon.  Also left behind is Ha's father.  Having disappeared years ago during the war, the family does not know if Father is dead or alive.    

 

Fortunately, the crowded ship on which the family escapes is discovered by an American military vessel and everyone is rescued. 

 

Fortunately, after the family is brought to a tent city in Florida, a man who, according to Ha, dresses like a cowboy, decides to sponsor their family.

 

But when I read that their "cowboy" was from Alabama, I wondered how fortunate it was going to be for Ha -- a great student but unable to speak English -- when she begins attending a public school in 1975 Wallace Country. 

 

It's already bad enough to be a kid in such a position at any time and place...

 

And then there are the Alabama neighbors...

 

"Neighbors

  

Eggs explode

like smears of snot

on our front door.

 

Just dumb kids,

says our cowboy.

 

Bathroom paper

hangs like ghosts

from our willow.

 

More dumb kids,

says our cowboy.

 

A brick

shatters the front window,

landing on our dinner table

along with a note.

 

Brother Quang

refuses to translate.

 

Mother shakes her head

when Vu Lee pops his muscles.

 

Our cowboy calls the police,

who tell us to stay inside.

 

Hogwash, our cowboy says,

then spits a brown blob of tobacco.

 

I repeat, Hogwash,

puckering for the ending of

ssssshhhhhh.

 

Mother decides

we must meet

our neighbors.

 

Our cowboy leads,

giving us each a cowboy hat

to be tilted

while saying,

Good mornin'.

 

Only I wear the hat.

 

In the house

to our right

a bald man

closes his door.

 

Next to him

a woman with yellow hair

slams hers.

 

Next to her

shouts reach us

behind a door unopened.

 

Redness crawls across

my brothers' faces.

Mother pats their backs.

 

Our cowboy leads us

to the house on our left.

 

An older woman

throws up her arms

and hugs us.

 

We're so startled

we stand like trees.

 

She points to her chest:

MiSSisss WaSShington.

 

She hugs our cowboy

and kisses him.

 

I thought only

husbands and wives

do that when alone.

 

We find out

MiSSSisss WaSShington

is a widow and retired teacher.

She has no children

but has a dog named Lassie

and a garden that takes up

her backyard.

 

She volunteers

to tutor us all.

 

My time with her

will be right after school.

 

I'm afraid to tell her

how much help I'll need."

 

The heroes of INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN, the story of Ha's departure from Vietnam and her first seasons in America, are the "cowboy" who sponsors their family, Mrs. Washington, and two of Ha's schoolmates: the red-haired Pam, and the boy of "coconut-shell skin," Steven.  I love how author Thanhha Lai, on whose own childhood experience this story is closely based, depicts these heroes and provides readers an example of how one might choose to befriend -- rather than mock, bully, or ignore -- the new kid in town.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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