logo

The Global Domain Name (url) Families.com is currently available for acquisition. Please contact by phone at 805-627-1955 or Email for Details

Book Review: Katie-Bo–an Adoption Story

Iris Fisher’s Katie-Bo: an Adoption Story tells the adoption process from the point of view of an older sibling. The book describes the entire adoption process, with only a sentence or two for each step. It would be excellent for helping older siblings understand the process of adoption. I would say it is aimed at kids about kindergarten age.

The narrator shares how his parents explain adoption to him and his brother. They make clear that the birthmother loves the baby, but because they can’t take good care of a baby right now she goes to an adoption agency, “a place where special people called social workers look for a happy family like ours to love and care for the baby forever”.

“We feel sad for the lady whose baby we’re going to adopt, but happy for us,” says the boy simply, honestly summing up the basic conflicting emotions about adoption in a nutshell.

The social worker visits, the referral and first picture of their sister, the family’s efforts to learn about Korea, the jealousy of one brother as the baby’s room is prepared, and the mother’s reassurance are all described matter-of-factly. The family chooses a name which combines an American name with the child’s Korean name. The arrival at the airport and emotions of welcoming the baby home are shown through the brother’s eyes. I also liked that, unlike many books, the book also showed the months after the adoption when the parents continue to go to sessions at the adoption agency, the social workers visits the house again, and the trip to court eight months after Katie-Bo’s arrival to finalize the adoption and celebrate with a family lunch.

The book has an overall upbeat tone to it, and the description of the adoption process was fairly accurate, even though the book was written in the late 1980s. The age at which Korean babies usually come home may be more like eight months now, since social workers are required to spend a period of time searching for a Korean adoptive family before releasing the child to the international adoption program. Also, more families travel now instead of meeting the babies at the airport. A good book for siblings who will be staying with a grandparent or aunt while their parents travel to receive their new child is Seeds of Love.

Please see this related blog:

Adoption Books for Children: Focus on Korea and Vietnam

This entry was posted in Adoption Books by Pam Connell. Bookmark the permalink.

About Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism. She resides near Seattle with her husband Charles and their three children. Pam is currently primarily a Stay-at-Home-Mom to Patrick, age 8, who was born to her; Meg, age 6, and Regina, age 3, who are biological half-sisters adopted from Korea. She also teaches preschoolers twice a week and does some writing. Her activities include volunteer work at school, church, Cub Scouts and a local Birth to Three Early Intervention Program. Her hobbies include reading, writing, travel, camping, walking in the woods, swimming and scrapbooking. Pam is a graduate of Seattle University and Gonzaga University. Her fields of study included journalism, religious education/pastoral ministry, political science and management. She served as a writer and editor of the college weekly newspaper and has been Program Coordinator of a Family Resource Center and Family Literacy Program, Volunteer Coordinator at a church, Religion Teacher, Preschool Teacher, Youth Ministry Coordinator, Camp Counselor and Nanny. Pam is an avid reader and continuing student in the areas of education, child development, adoption and public policy. She is eager to share her experiences as a mother by birth and by international adoption, as a mother of three kids of different learning styles and personalities, as a mother of kids of different races, and most of all as a mom of three wonderful kids!