Thanhha Lai was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1965. She immigrated to the US after the Vietnam War in 1975 when she was ten, growing up in Montgomery, Alabama. To date, she has written two books, Inside Out & Back Again, for which she won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2011) and Newbery Honor (2012). Her second book, Listen, Slowly, was published in 2015.
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Lai has also founded a charity that works to purchase bicycles for children in Vietnam who must travel great distances to attend school. Details about her work with Viet Kids can be found here.
Thanhha Lai's powerful language and imagery help readers connect with a world that is both familiar and new to them at the same time. Her characters feel real and they approach the challenges they face in ways that young readers will relate to. Children whose parents have immigrated to another country, or who have immigrated themselves, will know exactly how Mai feels when her parents put her on a plane to Vietnam to help her find her roots. They may also know how it feels to be considered strange by their classmates at school as they attempt to reconcile their own culture with the cultures of their classmates.
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Lai is so masterful in showing how her characters grow throughout each book. They show courage and strength by embracing who they are and how their culture has shaped them. She is equally as talented at portraying difficult emotions as she is constructing a clear and vibrant image of the worlds her characters live in. Readers will be able to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste the scenes Lai creates!
My body loosens and expands, remembering how it used to make room for her words to wiggle deep into the tiny crevices alongside my bones, muscles, and joints. Becoming a part of me.
Lai, Thanhha. Listen, Slowly (p. 46). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.