On three occasions between kindergarten and sixth grade I had to temporarily attend out of state schools, and I did have friends who moved away too, so I was definitely able to empathize with Amy and Louie. Thomas Edison had called electricity “a system of vibrations.” Jaden loved Thomas Edison. Edison had more than a thousand US patents. He had invented things left and right. Jaden wouldn’t hate life like he often did, if only he could invent that much.

Jaden knew it didn’t make sense, but he felt like if his real mother could have had electricity, if she could have only plugged in a light and turned it on, she wouldn’t have had to give him away. He’d told this to one of his former psychiatrists—a man whose name he couldn’t remember—and the psychiatrist had asked, “Why do you think that, Jaden?” 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 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) Accomplished, sensitive and powerful novel...A truly beautiful story about the power of love and family, this is Mike Gayle's best book to date * Daily Express *This is a beautiful, beautiful book. It's about family, about class, about love, about choices and sacrifice. It's about letting go and learning to hold on. It's optimistic and heartbreaking and funny and emotional. It's the kind of book that will stay with you, long after you finish it. Buy it, read it, love it - and hang on to those tissues, you'll need them.' Netgalley The differences between Noah and Kerry are stark. He is wealthy, has been privately educated, studied at University and dresses well. She left care at eighteen and went spectacularly off the rails and now cleans large houses owned by wealthy people to put food on the table for her and Kian. Rather than their differences pushing them further apart Mike Gayle uses them to bring Noah and Kerry together. It would have been easy to have Noah pity Kerry, to see her as a project or something he can fix, but in actual fact, he admires her tenacity and slowly, slowly, sees that they have similarities. Because electricity is magic,” he’d answered. That same psychiatrist was the first of many to say that Jaden couldn’t attach properly to Steve and Penni because of being betrayed by the one caretaker he’d ever had—his mother. From age four to eight, he’d had to fend for himself in group homes. This is a beautiful, beautiful book. It’s about family, about class, about love, about choices and sacrifice. It’s about letting go and learning to hold on. It’s optimistic and heartbreaking and funny and emotional. It’s the kind of book that will stay with you, long after you finish it. Buy it, read it, love it – and hang on to those tissues, you’ll need them.’ Netgalley

Amy and Louis is told beautifully in two ways. There’s the rhythmical, repeating language which shows the reader the special friendship between the pair in a minimum of words. Then there’s the illustrations, which focus on red, blue and neutrals to create the magical world which the pair have created in their friendship. I particularly love how the illustrations show the difference between the suburban world in Australia and the frantic, busy world Amy moves to (which I assume is New York) Originally published in Australia as Amy & Louis, this adorable and endearing picture-book tells the story of two young friends who are inseparable, until one of them moves "half a world away." Whether building towers that reach the sky, or discovering the hidden shapes in the clouds above, the two best friends (and next-door neighbors) spend their days together, summoning each other with a special call - "Coo-ee Am-ee" / "Coo-ee Lou-ee" - whenever they want to play. But when Amy and her family move far away, their call no longer works. Or does it...? Half a Word away is a heartbreaking and beautiful story. An uplifting tale that is relatable and well written.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.

Ah, this is a lovely story with lovely illustrations. Both story and pictures are so evocative of children’s play and children’s friendships, and also of feelings of loss, connection, and creative ways of coping too. It’s a perfect read aloud book. Highly recommended, particularly to children who are about to move or have moved and miss their friends or for children who’ve had or are about to have a friend move. I too” was exactly the kind of thing Steve said. “Perhaps” for “maybe,” “distressed” for “upset,” and so on. He was a word nerd. I do need to warn readers that this is an intensely emotional book, although beautifully written and uplifting in parts, it does give cause to have tissues close by but I did enjoy it and I would definitely read more by this author again. A tug at the heartstrings but funny, endearing and uplifting and a story I won't forget. An absolute must read! However, I can't lie, it totally got me. Not only did I find this book relatable in many ways, I found the characters endearing and I found myself really invested in their lives - which was also helped by the writing and the setting, as it really transported me into the story. Jaden sat on the floor, holding on to a half loaf of unsliced bread. He switched his lamp on and off, the bedroom lighting up and darkening over and over. Electricity had always relaxed him. For sure it was the most amazing thing about America. He bit off the biggest chunk of bread that could fit in his mouth. It was sourdough, which he liked because it was so chewy.He closed his eyes and stayed very still, concentrating on his electricity. He could feel a slight tingling in his hands. He hadn’t even known what electricity was when he was first adopted from Romania four years earlier. In Romania he’d lived in four different group homes, and none of them had electricity. Now in her early 40’s Kerry is a single mum to a young son, living on a rough estate, she has her own small business cleaning the houses of the rich and entitled. Having been put into the care system at a young age and separated from her younger brother Jason when he was 18 months old, she has spent her life determined to provide for her own child and give him the stability and direction she never had. Steve had just gotten home from work, so he was wearing a suit and tie. His suits were all slightly too small because he’d gained weight recently. “I hear you didn’t go to school. Whatcha been up to all day?” Steve asked Jaden.

These are people who matter, situations one can believe. Most readers will find themselves caring very much. A life-affirming read.' Vine Blurb: Kerry Hayes is a single mum, living on a tough south London estate. She provides for her son by cleaning houses she could never afford. Taken into care as a child, Kerry cannot forget her past.The other is adopted aged 2.5 and raised by a loving, wealthy white middle class family and eventually becomes a successful criminal barrister. Noah lives with his wife and daughter in Primrose Hill. So this was all Steve’s idea. Jaden didn’t answer. He shook off the bitterness and stared out the side window at the rain falling hard on front lawns, at porch lamps lighting up the houses. It was hard to believe that this lit-up neighborhood existed on the same planet that he’d lived on before. If—if—he decided to go to college, he would study electricity, which he’d done a science project on at school. He’d hooked up a cocoon so that a tiny light would go on every time the future moth moved inside the cocoon. Then, when it was born, a bell would ring. He’d gotten his only A ever on that project. He didn’t get an A for the class, though. He got a C. That was because the only thing that interested him was electricity. Kerry Hayes is single mum, living on a tough south London estate. She provides for her son by cleaning houses she could never afford. Taken into care as a child, Kerry cannot forget her past. It isn’t easy, it is heart-wrenching, but, oh, is it worth reading. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.‘ Vine He mostly wanted to invent anything related to electricity. Atoms were in constant motion, even when you were asleep. When you died, your personal electricity kind of turned off. And yet everything on the earth held constantly moving atoms. So even if your personal electricity died, your body still had a system of vibrations. Jaden hadn’t figured it all out yet, but he would someday—he’d promised himself that.