Inside Out and Back Again

Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai
(4th-6th grades)

Ten-year-old Ha has grown up in Saigon, but the Vietnam War is swiftly changing life and soon she is headed to the United States with her mother and three brothers. As her life begins anew in Alabama, Ha faces new challenges as she navigates American culture and food, makes new friends, and learns to see her family in a new light.

Based on the author's own experience, this novel in verse is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of immigration, and the anxiety, misunderstandings and hope that follows. This story is sure to bring a better understanding to those who read Ha's story.

Winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

Reviewed by Korie B., Children's Staff

Food For Thought by Ken Robbins

Food For Thought by Ken Robbins
(Grades 2 and up)

Food For Thought is a new addition to our library, just in time for Thanksgiving! Celebrated photographer and author Ken Robbins has captured beautiful images of many of the foods we love best: apples, oranges, corn, bananas, potatoes and many more. We eat many of these foods every day but few of us know why they are such staples in our diet. Robbins includes a brief history of these beloved fruits and vegetables and an overview of how they grow, what they are called in other languages and a variety of uses. The humble potato, for instance, has its origin in Peru and is called pommes de terre in French (fruit of the earth).

Robbins shares a sobering fact, "Just a few generations ago, the vast majority of Americans lived or worked on a farm. Now it's just 2 percent of us who do. As a result, most of us know less and less about where our food comes from; in many cases, we don't even really know what it looks like in its natural state."

Perhaps we could take a moment with the children in our lives this November to find out more about our favorite Thanksgiving foods. Food for Thought would be great dinner conversation to accompany a big bowl of mashed potatoes! At my house, we were fascinated to learn that the word orange has no rhyme! I won't tell you how long we tried to find one.

Visit www.newberglibrary.org to find this and other materials at our library.

Reviewed by Amanda L., Children's Staff