Through a series of autobiographical poems, Jacqueline revisits her childhood in Brown Girl Dreaming. Yes, it’s a peek into the civil rights moment, but even more, a celebration of family and beginnings and cherished things and stories. Beautiful. The Poet’s Dog is a short story about two lost children who are led to safety by a dog. And Inside Out & Back Again is the story of a Vietnamese family who leaves behind their war-torn home in Saigon. Poetic snippets give us glimpses of the home Ha loses, the fear and uncertainty, the hunger and grief, the desperation and frustration … and everything else that comes with the total displacement that allowed her, her mother, and her three brothers to survive.
C. J. Milbrandt 