As if the silence had awakened them, Penni and Steve came into the living room. “I’ll take the next shift when he wakes up,” Penni said.
Jaden said simply, “I like him.”
Penni asked, “You do?”
“Yeah.” It was a lie, kind of. He didn’t know if he truly even liked the baby yet, but he knew he’d decided that he would, someday. He would teach him whatever—how to swim, how to walk, how to build a lamp. Whatever. He knew it would be very hard, and he knew he couldn’t immediately change, couldn’t immediately become a kid who knew how to love. But he would try.
***
Acknowledgments
As always, thanks to the amazing team at Simon & Schuster. Sometimes I can’t believe how lucky I am to have landed with them. My editor, Caitlyn Dlouhy, has changed my life in so many ways. Profound thanks as well to Justin Chanda, Russell Gordon, and Jeannie Ng. And thank you, thank you, thank you to my amazing agent, Gail Hochman.
I’d also like to express my deepest appreciation to adoptive moms Diane Kalkowski and Season Schultz for trusting me with their experiences and the intensity of their feelings. Thanks also to adoptive mom Karen Ballinger for reading the manuscript and giving much-needed advice, as well as sharing her blog. And thank you to adoptive moms Cindy Frogatt, Jennifer Gilbert, Kimberly Patton, Tamara Rossotti, Melissa Scott, Cathy Williams, and Shanna Wilons . . . plus any moms I’ve missed.
Former Peace Corps volunteers Michael Hotard and Chris Chaplin, who were both stationed in Kazakhstan, were more than generous with their time. And thank you to falconers Steve Bodio and Lauren McGrough, and to Zena Tursynova and Zhanat Ismalova.
And, as always, thank you to my son, Sammy, who is my life and inspiration.
About the Author
Cynthia Kadohata is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning book Kira-Kira, the National Book Award winner The Thing About Luck, the Jane Addams Peace Award and Pen USA Award winner Weedflower, Cracker!, Outside Beauty, A Million Shades of Gray, and several critically acclaimed adult novels, including The Floating World. She lives with her son and dog in West Covina, California.
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
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Also by Cynthia Kadohata
Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam
Kira-Kira
A Million Shades of Gray
Outside Beauty
The Thing About Luck
Weedflower
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ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
New York, New York 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Cynthia Kadohata
Jacket illustration copyright © 2014 by Lee White
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Book design by Mike Rosamilia; jacket design by Russell Gordon
The text for this book is set in Palatino LT.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kadohata, Cynthia.
Half a world away / Cynthia Kadohata. — First edition.
pages cm
Summary: 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.
ISBN 978-1-4424-1275-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4424-1277-4 (eBook)
[1. Adoption—Fiction. 2. Intercountry adoption—Fiction.
3. Emotional problems—Fiction. 4. Abandoned children—Fiction.
5. Love—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.K1166Ha 2014
[Fic]—dc23 2013031627