Mike Gayle just gets better and better and HALF A WORLD AWAY might be the loveliest yet. -- Jenny Colgan, author of The Little Shop of Happy-Ever-After This book is a wonderful story! It really gives you a perspective on what it's like to be adopted from another country and how the adoption process goes in some countries. It follows a young boy getting used to his adoptive parents as he struggles to accept his real mother abandoning him. When he and his adoptive parents goes to Kazakhstan to adopt his baby brother, he finds himself befriending a wise older man and finds connection with a cute 4 year kid. He starts to realize his life meaning and overcomes his loneliness and becomes the big brother that he was meant to be.

One pinballs from placement to placement before finally growing up in a care home. A rough start in life, a need to fend for herself and eventually, a determination to ‘make good’. Kerry lives a humble but happy life as the single mother of her son, Kian, in a west London council estate, working hard as a cleaner.He got up and followed her through the house. It was a nice enough house, but not his house. He didn’t have a house. Never had—he’d only thought he had one. His mother, the only person he figured he’d ever loved, had given him up. He refused to feel love again, ever. Every day all he wanted to do was cry. He hated school, sitting there like a soldier in the army. He hated home, with Penni always trying to get through to him. He wished she would ignore him more. I haven’t read a Middle Grade in a while, but after hitting a bump, I decided to go for this one because I knew Kadohata wouldn’t let me down. One of the books I can remember making a huge difference in my life as a kid was Kira Kira by the same author, which is why I was so sure I would love this one. I am so glad I wasn't proven wrong. I’ve now read 3 of her works and have yet to be let down. This woman can work magic. Her stories are powerful and moving and this one was no different. Eleven-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he’s an “epic fail.’ That’s why his family is traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby—to replace him, he’s sure. And he gets it. He is incapable of stopping his stealing, hoarding, lighting fires, aggressive running, and obsession with electricity. He knows his parents love him, but he feels...nothing. No wonder the adoption agency/placement center/"Babies' Home" is not sure about placing a child with them. The legalities of the placement are in some ways realistic .. spending time in the country of origin, etc -- but the baby they adopt (and the older child they choose to adopt, too) are clearly special needs children, when at least the father in the story has not dealt well with being Jaden's father.

This is my second novel by Mike Gayle having recently read The Man I Think I Know which I also enjoyed. I love the ease of Mike Gayle books, they are well written, well rounded characters that the reader can connect with and a plot that is thought provoking and entertaining. When they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve traveled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn’t pure blinding fury, and there’s no way to control it, or its power.Kerry and Noah couldn't have had any more different upbringings if they tried, but yet there are a few similarities in their lives. There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer. Heartbreaking and wonderful, a beautiful book about the power of love to surmount almost anything. (Julie Cohen)