We've probably all read heartwarming stories of adoption. This is not one of those stories. In fact, this story may make you think twice about your romantic notions of adoption. Jaden is a 12-year-old boy adopted from Romania at age 8 by an American couple. Seeing life from his point of view may break your heart. He feels unable to love. He thinks constantly of the birth mother who abandoned him. He compulsively hurts himself, sets fires, steals, and lies. He is all too aware that he makes life very difficult for his parents.

Going into a story like this, I completely expected Jaden to have a big change of heart by the end of the story. We're supposed to believe that adoption is for the best, right? That it always has a happy ending? Well, spoiler alert, there's not a lot of consolation at the end of this story. Not that there's none, but it definitely left me with a sense of dread, even as I choked up over Jaden's final revelation.

It was hard for me to read this story objectively because I hope to adopt myself one day. It felt like a cautionary tale. I applaud Cynthia Kadohata for telling a hard story, and telling it so beautifully, as she always does. I'd recommend this for ages 11 and up, particularly if the reader is interested in stories of kids facing adversity and not necessarily triumphing, but surviving. It's bleak, but it's powerful and not without hope. ( )

I admire the unflinching depiction of Jaden, who is an adopted child that personifies all the horror stories that adoptive parents fear: attachment issues, fire starting, anger, and kleptomania. He is at war with himself, torn between gratitude for living in a place with electricity and food and furious resentment about being taken out of his country away from any possible reunification with his mother.

I like books that confront our less than stellar natures, and I really like that this book offers hope in the end, on a realistic level.


My copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

Twelve-year-old Jaden was adopted from Romania, and he’s more or less adapted to his new life in America. This changes as he and his family travel to Kazakhstan to adopt a new sibling.

children's middlegrade fiction (Jaden is 12). I liked it, but you have to be ok with extremely vague endings. Just about everything is unresolved, including J's fixation with starting fires/electricity (or maybe he forgets this as soon as he realizes his new brother(s)' problems are larger than his own (it's not really made clear, but probably better this way). ( )

A family adopted an older child with the name of Romania. Romania, being an older child, had a difficult time adjusting to a new family. Not only was she dealing with a new family, but she was also learning a new culture in a new country. The new family then goes on to adopt another baby, and Jaden was along for the journey. The journey was full of unexpected issues and trials. This book overall was okay. However, the book was pretty deep for a middle schooler. ( )