Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai

Intended to be semi-autobiographical, this novel in verse tells the story of Hà, a young Vietnamese girl.  She lives a happy, although somewhat deprived, life in Saigon with her two brothers and mother.  Their father disappeared while on a military mission and hasn't been heard from since, but the family is hopeful that he will return.

As the Communist forces from the north approach, however, it becomes clear that their home is no longer safe.  Because Hà's father was in the military, his family (with many others) is entitled to passage on one of several ships which will stealthily leave carrying refugees.  The story follows their family to a camp in Guam, and then to another in the United States, before they are finally sponsored by a family who wants one of Hà's brothers to work in his auto garage.

Hà has a great deal of difficulty adapting to her new home in Alabama.  She is only gradually learning English.  No one in her school looks remotely like her.  The neighbors avoid her family, and she is bullied by classmates.  But with the help of her family and a few kind friends, she is able to carve out a home for herself, even though it will never be like the home she left.

Although I think this story could have been told equally well, and perhaps more fully, if not in verse, the sparse prose does seem to emphasize Hà's difficulty in finding the words to understand what is happening, and her inability to communicate with people.

Breaking Stalin's Nose, by Eugene Yelchin

Another spontaneous Newbery for me- this one was on display at the local library and I picked it up when I saw the medal on the cover, since I was between Newbery books and the blog was due for an update!

Sasha Zaichik lives a comparatively charmed life in Stalinist Russia.  Although he and his father share an apartment with 46 other individuals, the two of them have the biggest bedroom and are well provided for.  Sasha's father is a well-respected member of State Security, and Sasha fully believes in all of the principles that society, school, and his father have taught him.  The top student in his class, Sasha's most ardent wish is about to come true. He is about to be inducted into the Young Pioneers (in a nutshell, the Stalinist equivalent of the Hitler Youth).  He'll finally be able to proudly wear the red kerchief and strengthen his character to become the best Communist he can be.  And Sasha's father is to preside over the induction ceremony!

Sasha's worldview quickly changes, however, over the course of the two days covered in this book.  The night before the ceremony, Sasha's father is arrested and taken away by State Security.  One of their flatmates has informed on him and wastes no time taking over the large bedroom for his own family.  Officials from the orphanage will return for Sasha in the morning, but Sasha doesn't wait.  He's certain a mistake has been made, and once Stalin finds out he'll be very angry and rectify it immediately!  In the meantime, he goes to see his aunt Larisa, but is turned out.  She and her husband have a new baby and they would be at risk if they offered shelter to some one of questionable character.  So Sasha patiently spends the night in their basement and heads to school the next day.

At school, Sasha pretends that nothing has happened.  He is intended to carry the banner at the Young Pioneers ceremony, a great honor, and no one at school seems to know, so he likewise keeps quiet.  But he starts to notice small in justices over the course of the day.  Sasha notices that some children are repressed and picked on because of the supposed crimes of their parents, not what they themselves have said or done.  And standing in opposition to the group when they're persecuting some one, even if they are wrong, is the fastest way to become a target yourself (despite the Young Pioneers principle of always acting according to a clear conscience).  He realizes that he will be the next to fall, and there are plenty who would gladly see him fall from such an exalted position.  And when he unintentionally breaks the nose of the school's statue of Stalin, unseen by anyone but a single enemy from his class, he realizes how dangerous things truly are for him.

I'll not spoil the ending for you, but I'll mention that the book does have a brief afterword.  Usually I'm not a fan of afterwords, but I found this one useful and not too long to be bothersome.  And since the author grew up in Soviet Russia, I thought he might have something interesting to say about what he meant to do with this book.  What he had set out to do, and did marvelously, was to give expression and examine the pervasive fear that permeated every aspect of the lives of the Russian people living during this time (and even after the death of Stalin).  It's been a long time since I was the target age for this book so it's hard for me to know what knowledge a young reader would bring with him when picking this one up, but even now it makes me want to learn more.

Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos

I didn't at all know what to expect from this one; it was on the display shelf when I visited the library and when I saw the Newbery Medal on the cover, I just snagged it. I was familiar with Jack Gantos only indirectly- his YA memoir Hole in My Life has been on the local high school's summer reading list. But I hadn't actually read anything of his (clearly a failure on my part, since this isn't the first award he's won). [edit: upon doing my homework, I realize that I have read one of his books- Rotten Ralph!]

In any case, Dead End is the fictionalized account of one summer of Gantos's childhood. However, the line between the fiction and the reality is impossible for the reader to distinguish, since so many things that come up in this book sound too insane and incredible to be true, and yet they are. Norvelt is an actual town in Pennsylvania, named for Eleanor Roosevelt (and Jack Gantos really grew up there). It was constructed during the depression to provide homes for laid off coal miners and their family, and each home had a plot of land sufficient for each family to have a garden to feed itself. A great deal of fascinating local history is given over the course of the book, most of which is probably true as well.

In the book, Jack ends up grounded for the entire Summer because he shoots off a Japanese firearm that his father had brought back from World War II and kept in the garage (to be fair, he didn't load it, nor did he expect it to be loaded), and because he plowed down his mother's cornfield (also, to be fair, at his father's bidding) to make way for a runway for his father's recently-acquired airplane. His only escape from the constant digging (both to level the field for the runway and to dig a hole for a bomb shelter that his father promised his mother, but never actually intends to build) is to assist Miss Volker. Miss Volker is a retired lady who still writes columns for the local paper (namely, the obituaries and the this-week-in-history column). However, she gets stuck on the physical writing part- arthritis has crippled her hands. She gets occasional use out of them by dipping them in hot wax, but not nearly enough to handwrite (and then type for submission) her articles. She promised Eleanor Roosevelt that she would keep tabs on the original settlers of the town for as long as they live, so she takes these obituaries very seriously.

Because there is so much actual truth and history mixed in, you're also inclined to believe the craziest things about the residents of the town (for example, Jack has a problem with his nose bleeding like a faucet at the least sign of stress, or that Mr. Spizz, a member of local town government, makes his way around town on a giant tricycle to hand out tickets for property infractions). So a book that seems like it could be about the most boring summer ever actually has quite a bit of excitement in it! I also learned some interesting trivia, such as this story.

MacMillan audio has kindly offered us the following audio clip from the beginning of the book, read by Jack Gantos. Thank you very much!