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October 2026 - Graciela in the Abyss
By Kristen · 1 post · 15 views
By Kristen · 1 post · 15 views
last updated Oct 01, 2025 07:27PM
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June Read- Inside Out and Back Again
By Kim · 15 posts · 137 views
By Kim · 15 posts · 137 views
last updated Dec 19, 2011 08:09AM
What Members Thought
This novel is verse is an interesting look into one Vietnamese girl’s experience emigrating to the US during the Vietnam War. Her descriptions of Vietnam were very evocative and I loved each of her brothers so much. Her insight into what it’s like to go from being smart in your native language to being dumb because you haven’t yet learned the language in the country where you are a refugee was heartbreaking. (3 hours)
Jul 21, 2012
Natalie Harvey
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
child-lit,
family,
fiction,
historical,
war,
fitting-in,
middle-grade,
verse-novel,
refugee
Recommended to me by my 4th and 5th grade Vietnamese students. They kept passing the library copy around, so I just bought my own. I can see why they liked it so much. The beginning is set in wartime Saigon but describes the everyday culture and life well. (I kinda want a papaya right now.) The latter half of the book relates the ELL experience, learning the language, eating weird American food, and fitting in at school (or really, really not), among other things.
Interesting story told in verse about a young girl's experience leaving Vietnam at the end of the Vietnamese war and coming to the US with her family. It is a fast, easy read through which upper elementary students could experience coming to a new land with a new language and new customs. It may help them empathize better with ESL students in their own schools and neighborhoods, always a good thing.
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A very quick, but powerful read. Highly recommended to those who enjoy historical fiction. This would also make a nice read aloud for teachers/parents who are trying to build empathy in their students/kids.
Told from the viewpoint of a 10-year old refugee from Vietnam, the story was tenderly told & taught me, the reader, alot.
Jan 30, 2012
Chantelle
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2012
Kaari
marked it as to-read
Sep 15, 2012
Addy
marked it as to-read
Nov 25, 2012
Christi
marked it as to-read
Feb 17, 2014
Kirsten Barber
marked it as to-read-soon
