Bringing Back Kay-Kay is a wonderful debut novel full of hope, mystery, adventure and about discovering truths. This lyrical novel is perfect for middle-grade readers and explores identity and self-worth and celebrates family love. I absolutely love how well-written this book is and it has wonderful lyrical language and great characterisation throughout. This book will make a wonderful addition to any upper primary school/library classroom and be a perfect gift for fans of Rebecca Stead and Katherine Rundell. I want to say a huge thank you to publishers,Walker Books, for sending me a copy of, Bringing Back Kay-Kay.

This book made me cry and that never happens, so the author does have some incredible ability to write both simply and powerfully. The story is razor-sharp and packed with subtle emotion—and the authentic voice of a child. I did feel as though I were reading a child’s actual diary. One of my top kidlit reads of this year ✨

Most of us have at least one sibling, and whether they are brothers or sisters, younger or older than ourselves, the relationships that we have with them are unlike those we have with anyone else. For my part, and for a whole variety of reasons, my brother and I were never close as children and, until we were both in our forties, for much of the time we barely even acknowledged one another. Unlike us though, my son and daughter have always been quite close. Yes, there were squabbles and times when they were deeply unpleasant to one another growing up but if anything terrible had happened to one, the other would have been devastated - a situation that is explored beautifully in this middle grade story, where our narrator Lena's much loved older brother Kay-Kay mysteriously disappears. Lena has been enjoying the additional attention of her parents while her sibling has been on summer camp and when they go to collect him from the railway station, she wishes that he would stay away a little longer - something she bitterly regrets when it is clear that Kay-Kay was not on the train he should have been on. When the story of his disappearance appears in the local newspaper, Lena feels frustrated that nothing else seems to be happening and accompanying her father to the police station for an update, lets her feelings out, resulting in the officer in charge of the case angrily telling her dad to keep her out of the way and her dad telling her to stop interfering. Determined to do something, Lena starts to investigate for herself - calling Kay-Kay's friends in her search for clues - and very slowly she starts to piece together the events of the night he went missing. But with things not moving quickly enough for her liking, Lena takes the decision to head out of town to help her understand just what might have happened. With so little to go on, and with the police convinced that Kay-Kay is just another teenage runaway, can Lena find any evidence that has been overlooked and bring him home, or will she discover that her beloved brother is just another statistic after all? I can only imagine what it must be like for a loved one to go missing - the terrible pain of not knowing combined with the dread that the worst has happened, which must surely get worse as time passes and the flicker of hope that you feel diminishes. For Lena - who like so many of us - takes the presence of Kay-Kay for granted, those feelings are mixed with the regrets she feels at not being a kinder, better sister to him and the belief she holds that she is the less loved of her parents' offspring, driving her on to find out just what has happened. As she does so, she comes up against those who believe she should not interfere, including her own parents, but should meekly sit at home and wait or support her mother by making her endless cups of chai like a dutiful daughter should. Her refusal to do so and her determination to find out what has happened - even at the risk of discovering bad news - make her such a glorious character for young readers to empathise with. Whether she is angrily confronting those standing in her way or showing enormous kindness to those she believes to be having an even harder time than she is, she is utterly credible and I loved her for it.

Wow, what an incredible book. I picked this up because I thought it would be a fun mystery, but instead it was a somber tale that was better than I could’ve ever hoped. I really enjoyed Kothari’s writing, and the choice to have the book written from Lena to Karthik. Lena’s emotions were handled and described with grace, not shying away from her grief. The story was jammed packed with subtle lessons about life and family, all of which hit deep. The last fifty pages had me sobbing, but it was so so beautiful. I will be thinking about this book for weeks.

I really loved this book. Atmospheric, gorgeously written and so thoughtful with a compelling mystery at its heart. Lena is a wonderful main character, and the difficult situation her family finds themselves in is explored perfectly for a young audience. I was drawn to Bringing Back Kay-Kay by the stunning cover, but it's just as beautiful on the inside.