This blog features books about adoption-—primarily domestic adoption within the U.S.; however many of these books are good for all adoptive families and kids. It is the last (for now) in a series on children’s books with adoption themes. Previous blogs included: books featuring children adopted from China, children from Korea and Vietnam, and children from Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as kids adopted internationally from any country.
Let’s Talk About It: Adoption. Fred Rogers of television’s “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has photos of several families and children interacting together—eating, playing, working, arguing. He addresses children simply, talking about how a family is about belonging, how it is okay to have mixed feelings about being adopted and how those feelings can be dealt with by talking to your mom or dad or by playing.
In How I Was Adopted by children’s author Joanna Cole, a seven-year-old matter-of-factly tells how she was adopted when she was four days old.
Twice Upon a Time: Born and Adopted. Intended for ages 3-8, a basic explanation of how all babies are born, and some babies are then adopted into their families.
A Family For Jamie and Tell Me Again about the Night I Was Born (by actress and adoptive mom Jamie Lee Curtis), both convey the excitement of the parents and all their family and friends, and how much they have longed for a baby, as does the adoption classic The Chosen Baby, which was first written in 1937 and revised about forty years later. The new version does not have the parents literally choosing from among babies, but shows how they make a choice for adoption and then wait a long time for the social worker to find the baby who is right for their family. The new illustrations are done in a deliberately vague watercolor pencil. In one picture I was sure Baby Peter was African-American, in another he looked Asian, in another White or perhaps Latino. I think this was done deliberately so that all children could feel that the book is about them.
The Day We Met You is for very young children, ages 2-5, and is a simple telling of the adoptive parents’ preparations for bringing their child home and of the day that finally happens.
Adoption is For Always is for older children. Celia realizes that being adopted meant she had other parents. She angrily says she wants mommy and daddy to be her only mommy and daddy, then becomes curious about her birthparents. She learns that adoption means her parents are her forever parents now.
Three books which attempt to show children how their birthparents loved them are:
The Mulberry Bird, in which a little bird tries to feed and shelter her nestling by herself but finally realizes she cannot, and allows a pair of shorebirds to adopt her child.
Did My First Mother Love Me? For ages 5-9 . When Morgan asks this question, her adoptive mother is able to read her a letter which the birthmother wrote. Even children who do not have such a letter may find it comforting to be able to imagine a birthparent’s situation.
Never, Never, Never Will She Stop Loving You was written by an adoptive parent who was also a foster parent to the pregnant teenage birthmother whose story is told in this book.
Megan’s Birthday Tree: A Story of Open Adoption tells of a girl’s relationship with her birthmother as well as her adoptive mother.
Three books about siblings in adoptive families are:
William is My Brother. A non-adopted boy talks about the similarities and differences between himself, his adopted brother, and their parents. He states: “William is not special because he is adopted. William is special because he is William.”
Abby is a sweet story about brothers and sisters, and how little sisters try to get their big brothers’ attention…questions about adoption are handled matter-of-factly and the focus of the story remains on the sibling relationship.
Is That Your Sister? A white girl answers other kids’ questions about having an African-American sister
A Forever Family by Roslyn Banish with Jennifer Jordan-Wong is unique in that it features a girl adopted at age seven. In this photo essay Jennifer shares the everyday things she does, and also how she was adopted by her parents, an interracial couple, and how she still visits one of the foster families she lived with.
Brown Like Me With the encouragement of her white adoptive parents, African-American Noelle goes on a search for things that are a beautiful shade of brown, like her.
Please see these related blogs:
Kids’ Adoption Books: Focus on Korea and Vietnam
Children’s Books About Adoption from China
Kids’ Books Starring Internationally Adopted Kids