Tag Archives: assessment

Creating a Reading Nook

I love children’s books as much as my children. I love the imagination, creativity, innocence, wonder, and transportation to another world even one where animals talk and have afternoon tea. Books bring a sense of wonder and if you select the right book the words can be mesmerizing. I love the way words sound as they come together to form a beautiful thought. Books are magic. It is the magic I want to share with my children. Further, I want my children to enjoy reading on their own. The best way to encourage an emerging reader is to make reading … Continue reading →

Book Review: Carolyn’s Story

Carolyn’s Story is told from the viewpoint of the author’s nine-year-old daughter, who was adopted from Honduras when she was a baby. The book is longer than most adoption picture books and will appeal to somewhat older children than picture books, although younger children will be engaged by the photos and simple narration. The book is also unique in featuring the situation of many adoptive children: a family where one parent has children, often grown, from a prior marriage. Wishing to have children together, the new couple—often past prime childbearing years—turn to adoption. Carolyn’s story includes a visit to her … Continue reading →

Books for Kids About Foster Care

There are many good children’s books about adoption, but still a dearth of books about foster care. It is a painful subject to write about, but it is also hard when a foster child thinks he or she is the only one going through it, and also when other children don’t understand. The following books can be used by foster parents, social workers and therapists to help children understand some of the reasons they might be in foster care, the roles of the adults including biological family, foster parents, social worker, therapist and judge; and who makes the decisions about … Continue reading →

A Middle-Grade Novel to Skip

There is a dearth of adoption stories, either fiction or non-fiction, for kids in between the picture book stage and the young-adult novel stage. So it’s doubly disappointing that the latest one I read perpetuates old stereotypes. Trophy Kid, or How I Was Adopted by the Rich and Famous is by Steve Atinsky. We hear a lot nowadays about celebrities adopting. Atinsky did have a creative idea to look at what a 13-year-old son of movie stars (one of whom is a political candidate) thinks of his adoption ten years later. Jozef Francis (Joe) was orphaned by the fighting in … Continue reading →

More Reassuring Books for Adopted Children

Some time ago I published a blog on Reassuring Your Adopted Child. This blog shares some more books with reassuring messages for adopted children—and for all children. Max Lucado, author of spiritual books for both adults and children, has two books which I believe will be helpful. The first book is Just in Case You Ever Wonder. The illustrations by Toni Goffe begin with a young infant, but the text could be for either birth or adoption: “The same hands that made the stars made you.” “God made you like no one else.” “And since you were so special , … Continue reading →

Book Review: Allison

Caldecott Medalist Allen Say, who has written about his own family’s connections with both Japan and America, here tells a story of an Asian girl who is processing her growing awareness of her adoption. The plot is simple: Allison is happy to receive an ethnic dress like her doll wears, but grows quiet as she looks at her family in the mirror and notice that the only one who looks like her is her doll. Allison asks where her doll came from, and her father tells how they brought both Allison and her doll back from “a far country”. (Allison … Continue reading →

My Favorite Adoption Book Reviews of 2009

Last year, I wrote about my favorite books I reviewed in 2008. Here are favorites from the children’s adoption books I’ve reviewed this year. (These are books which I’ve reviewed here in the Adoption Blog in 2009. They may have been published in prior years.) In My Heart, by Molly Bang, is a wonderful book for any child. It’s a story of her mother telling her child that throughout the various activities of their separate days, he is always in her heart—and his parents, friends and teachers are in his heart too. The child pictured looks Indian or Latino and … Continue reading →

Self Reflection as Self Motivation

If I haven’t said so before: I’m a Ph.D. student. One of the things I study is playwriting (writing for the theatre). My instructor recently gave a wonderful final assignment. Our final paper was a guided self-assessment of our work in the field of playwriting over the past 4 months. While I’ve been accustomed to lengthy well documented and researched papers in graduate school I found this one of the most difficult, enjoyable, and learning filled papers I’ve ever written. Do you ever stop for long enough to actually assess what you’ve accomplished in a given set of time? Many … Continue reading →

Book Review: Love, Adoption, and Brownies with Sprinkles

Sometimes a book comes along that manages to write about a single experience, but one that is so ubiquitous that we think, “Why didn’t anyone write a book like this before?” Star of the Week: a Story of Love, Adoption, and Brownies with Sprinkles is based on the authors’ own daughter. She has some unique circumstances not shared by her classmates, but the setting is one almost all kids in early school-age can relate to. I n preschool, kindergarten and early elementary school, a frequent occurrence is for each student to be assigned a week to be the “Star”. They … Continue reading →

Adoption Books with Great Art: You Are Special, You Were Chosen

You Are Special; You Were Chosen is a sweet little book which grew out of the bedtime story that the author’s father read to her each night. Its soft, detailed colored pencil/pastel illustrations definitely qualify it for my Adoption Books with Great Art series. The lovely pictures show diverse children and families, including siblings of different races, which I really appreciate, as that is something I have a hard time finding. Books featuring a multiracial classroom are becoming common, as are books featuring families of color—but multiracial families are still difficult to find. I almost bought a book the other … Continue reading →