Half a World Away
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Year
2014
ISBN
9781442412750
Pages
240 pages
Genre
realism
Format
novel
Item Type
Fiction
Annotation
Twelve-year-old Jaden, an emotionally damaged adopted boy fascinated by electricity, feels a connection to a small, weak toddler with special needs in Kazakhstan, where Jaden's family is trying to adopt a "normal" baby.
Grade Level
6-8
Lexile Measure
670L
Diversity Topics
Family Relationships; Racial Diversity; Disability and Health; Adoption; Interracial; Multiracial; Physical disability; Mental illness; adopted child; adoptive parents; adoptive brother; interracial/transracial adoption; international adoption; interracial family; multiracial family; mute; mute child; impulse-control disorder; pyromania; therapy
Main Character
male child
Race/Ethnicities
Kazakhstani / Romani / White
Family Formation
adoptive mother and father
Awards
Lamplighter Award, 2015-2016, Honor Book
Booklist Book Review Stars, 2014
Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2014 Fiction Middle Grade
Booklist Top 10 Multicultural Fiction for Youth, 2015 Fiction
Choices, 2015 Children's Fiction
NPR's Book Concierge, 2014 Young Adult
Keywords
loneliness; troubled youth; hopelessness; love; memories; electricity; Romania; abandonment; Kazakhstan; connection
Diversity Impact
direct
STARS Citation
Kadohata, Cynthia, "Half a World Away" (2014). Diverse Families. 498.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/498