I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, written by Rose Lewis about her own adoption story, is illustrated by gorgeous watercolors by Jane Dyer. Like the other books she has illustrated, Dyer’s watercolors are realistic, evoke emotion, and are simply beautiful.
The story is focused on a mother adopting a baby girl from a Chinese orphanage. It is appropriate for single mothers, but there is no reason it couldn’t be used by a two-parent family.
The narrative is straightforward. There are baby girls in an orphanage with nannies to take good care of them, but no mother. There is a mother in America who also has many friends, but no baby. She writes to Chinese officials asking if she can adopt one of the babies in the big room. She waits. Eventually she is sent the baby’s picture. She boards a plane for China. She meets the child. They get to know each other in the hotel. They come home and are welcomed by friends. The child settles into her new crib.
There is a touching moment at the end of the book, which I chose to omit when reading aloud to my girls until recently, where the mother rocks her baby and weeps a few tears for the Chinese mother who could not keep her. She hopes the birthmother will know that the baby is safe and happy in the world, and that mother and baby will never forget her.
The best art is hard to describe. The artist conveys emotion through details, from the tilt of a chin to the baby’s gaze and the sweep of delicate eyelashes. The mother’s wistful longing as she fills out the adoption paperwork is well conveyed, as is the playfulness of mother and baby and the heartfelt love as the mother kisses the sleeping baby’s hand.
Lewis has recently written a second book, a sequel of sorts, called Every Year on Your Birthday. Fortunately, Dyer again illustrates with beautiful watercolors. The child is turning five, and mother and daughter remember past birthdays. Of the actual birth day, the mother says, “I wasn’t there, but I was waiting for you and getting ready.” They then remember past birthday celebrations, including one where the child becomes an American citizen on her second birthday and one where they celebrate by attending a Chinese Dragon Boat Race and Festival. The illustrations convey how the mother incorporates some Chinese traditions—clothing, kite flying—into their life together without hammering on the subject.
While the book is marketed mostly to families with children from China, all Asian children will enjoy seeing themselves in these books, and I believe all children will enjoy the stories of family love. They might be a gentle introduction to adoption for non-adopted children.
Please see these related blogs:
Adoption Books with Beautiful Art: Over Land and Sea: a Story of International Adoption
Review of Artful Adoption Books: Three Names of Me
Adoption Books with Great Art: The Tummy Mummy