skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Eleven-year-old Jaden lives with his loving adoptive parents and has everything he needs, but he is still not very happy. He feels betrayed by his biological parents who gave him up, and constantly feels like his adoptive parents are disappointed in him. The only thing he really cares about is electricity, which he did not have in the Romanian orphanage where he was raised. Now, his adoptive parents are taking him to Kazakhstan to adopt a baby brother for him, and Jaden is as usual not very happy. When they get to Kazakhstan, Jaden and his parents encounter many challenges, but there are also surprising silver linings. And what Jaden does not expect to find is a friend, and a kid he won't mind calling his brother.
Half a World Away is a book that deals with international adoption, which is a tough but fascinating topic. It is a realistic fiction novel that's smart and easy to read, and provides great insight about what it is to be a family.
For grades 5 and up.
Gaby and her mother love animals. They always took care of the stray and abandoned cats in the neighborhood until Gaby's mother was deported to Honduras. Now, Gaby's father won't allow her to feed or care for any animals. He says they can barely afford to feed themselves, let alone a cat. Their neighbors, the Gomez family, offered to take Gaby in after her mother left, but her father insisted on coming back into her life to "take care" of her. His version of taking care of her leaves her with an empty stomach and a lonely house.
Things seem to look up, however, when Gaby's class volunteers at the local animal shelter where she writes adoption ads in the hopes of finding families for the animals. What she doesn't expect, though, is that while waiting for her mother to come home and finding homes for the animals, she finds hope and belonging for herself.
Join Gaby on her journey towards acceptance and a loving family in Gaby, Lost and Found by Angela Cervantes, for grades 5-7.
