Half a World Away - Softcover

Born and raised in Australia, Libby Gleeson grew up with her five other siblings and her two parents, who were teachers. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney in 1973, and is a former English and History teacher, both on the secondary and tertiary levels. Her awards and accolades include: Junior Book of the Year (1997), short listed for Australian Children’s Book Council Book of the Year awards 11 times, Ibby Award (1992), among others.

Libby currently lives in Australia and is a full-time writer of fiction for children and young adults.
Scotland native Freya Blackwood grew up and currently lives in Orange, NSW, about three and a half hours west of Sydney (Australia). Creativity is in her blood. Her mother, Kay, is a painter and jeweler, and her father, John, is an architect. As her grandfather was also a painter, there was ample influence and encouragement in artistic pursuits as she grew up.

*Starred Review* Best friends Amy and Louie are never far apart. From across the room or the playground, they call to each other with a special word: "Cooo-ee!" Then Amy's family moves "half a world away," and the children long for each other. "If I call Amy really loudly, she'll hear me, won't she?" Louie asks. Only his grandmother is encouraging: "You can only try." Louie belts out his loudest "Cooo-ee!" and across the ocean, half a day later, Amy happily declares, "I dreamt about Louie and he called me." In rhythmic, pared-down words, Gleeson captures friendship's intensity from a young child's viewpoint. In simplest terms, she also communicates the sometimes tough-to-grasp concept of global distance: "When you are awake in the day, [Amy] is asleep at night." Blackwood's tender, realistic watercolors reinforce the friends' sweet closeness and magic, particularly in the few wordless spreads that skillfully shift perspective from aerial views of Louie's seaside village to seahorse-shaped clouds, which race across the ocean and hover outside Amy's high-rise as if to visualize the impact of Louie's cry across the world. Subtle, direct, and profound, this quiet story communicates the deep joy and unbreakable bonds that true friends share, and it will reassure little ones who know firsthand the aching sadness that separation brings. Gillian Engberg
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