Adoption Books

Love's Challenge by Sondra Quinn

After a fatal car crash, Adria Simpson inherits her brother and sister in law's five boys. Adria became a mother of five overnight and lost the love of her life at the same time. Adria's fiance Paul made it obvious he wasn't ready to be a father and backed out on the marriage and just left her scarred and broken hearted.

Bryce Hathaway the famous football player from Omaha was now teaching adolescent football, after dropping the major leagues. His star quarter back Alex had an accident that would ultimately change Bryce's life. When Alex's aunt Adria walks into the hospital room, he is astonished at the beauty of her.

Not knowing if Bryce is just trying to get intimate with her, Adria gives him a choice; move in with her and the kids for a week to see if he can handle being a father to five rambunctious little boys. At the end of the week Bryce chooses to leave and it is the worst mistake he could have ever made. He knew Adria was the one for him, now that she no longer trusted him and the boys are showing their dislike; he will go to all measures imaginable to win Adria's heart.

Adria could not trust a man after the heartache Paul caused her. But then again she couldn't help falling head over heels in love with Bryce. Will Adria open up her heart again accepting Bryce for all that he is? Or will she block him out forever?

Ms. Quinn has stolen my heart with this story. Her characters came to life and event was in amazing detail. I knew I would enjoy this book from the beginning, in no way was I disappointed. Ms. Quinn is a masterful storyteller and I highly recommend picking this story up. Just make sure you have a box of tissues handy because it's a tear jerker. I think Love truly is a challenge so I award Ms. Quinn 5 hearts.

My first thought when I picked up Love's Challenge by Sondra Quinn was yuck! Who wants to read a book about 5 obnoxious kids? And that is actually the premise of Quinn's novel in a way--her heroine, Adria Sinclair, wonders who could possibly want to marry her now that she has been made guardian of her five nephews. I was pleasantly surprised--the kids were realistically portrayed and weren't at all annoying. The hero, Bryce Hathaway, is a football coach who sets out to convince Adria that he is in love with her and that she should marry him. The book has a lot of humor in it, as well as some good romantic scenes. I'm glad I picked up the book and read it; by the time I was done, I even liked the kids!

In Love's Challenge by Sondra Quinn, former pro quarterback turned junior high school football coach Bryce Hathaway has found the woman of his dreams, Adria Sinclair. Adria is the aunt of his star quarterback and is the guardian of Alex and his five younger brothers. She thinks that because she has five boys to raise, nobody will ever want to marry her so Bryce sets out to prove her wrong. This is a fun book with a lot of funny scenes, as well as some good romantic scenes. I really enjoyed it.

Love's Challenge by Sondra Quinn is a sexy, humorous romance novel with lots of twists and turns. The basic plot involves Adria, a bookstore owner, who is given custody of her brother's five young sons when their parents are killed in a car wreck. As a result, Adria believes that no man will ever want to fall in love with her or marry her.

Bryce Hathaway is Adria's nephew's football coach and he does fall in love with Adria-- but he has a hard time convincing her that they can truly have a relaitonship. Bryce's various attempts to woo Adria range from whimsical to downright spectacular. I enjoyed the sense of humor Quinn uses in this book, and also liked the way the kids were portrayed-- they were realistic without being annoying, with the possible exception of the charater of Daniel, although Quinn has a reason for making his character the way he is.

I really liked this book! It is a great romance and a fun read!

My daughter and I loved this book. It is a tender and age appropriate way of explaining adoption to a small child. The pictures are lovely as are the drawings of this very accomplished artist and story teller.

I thought this was a beautifully written and touching book, and a wonderful tool for explaining adoption to small children. The illustrations are bright and colorful and I loved the way photos of real children from all backgrounds are featured to further illustrate how everyone is different and some children come into their families in different ways but are loved just as much.

This book is written from the heart. It shares how a child (ladybug) sees herself as different, yet this is celebrated as something positve. Variety is good. Being special is something to celebrate and be proud of. Nice message for ALL children about adoption. Actually we are all individuals and different in some way.

My 3 year old daughter is told at bedtime she can read three books. Since purchasing "Lovebug" it is almost always one of the three that she chooses. We both love it for the simple wording and vibrant pictures. It also attempts beautifully to discuss the HUGE concept of adoption in a way that even a child can grasp. It has quickly become one of our very favorites!

This book has a great message. All Mrs. Hens friends think she is crazy, but she falls in love with this egg and when it hatches looking different then what everyone expected... it doesn't matter. Mrs. Hen loves the baby. You can apply it to many different real life experiences. Very Cute! My daughter's favorite book.

Mrs. Hen yearns for a baby chick to love. To her delight, one day she discovers an egg in her garden and realizes now she can have a chick of her very own. She takes the egg home and sits on it as any good hen would and dreams of her little chick-to-be. Mrs. Hen's friends think she's crazy -- the egg is enormous and polka-dotted and they don't think it will ever hatch. For a long time, it doesn't. After a year or so of sitting on the egg, Mrs. Hen gets frustrated and jostles it, rolls it around, and hits it with a broom in an effort to get it to hatch, but with no luck. She decides to roll it back down the hill, where it cracks at the bottom and out comes her chick -- which turns out to be a dinosaur. She doesn't care that it looks funny for a chick -- she loves it anyway. The illustrations of Mrs. Hen, particularly of her excitement on finding the egg, are charming and full of life.

I'm adopting internationally and was looking for picture books for a young child that would help me begin addressing the issue with a little one. This is a wonderful, charming, heartwarming book -the point being that Mrs. Hen wants a chick to love, and is still thrilled when her "chick" is a little creature that doesn't happen to look like her - she still adores him. The story is short, the illustrations are adorable, and it's not a "heavy", intense book at all - just a feel-good one perfect to read to small children.

Wonderful way to help explain international and cross-cultural adoption to the toddler and pre-schooler. As an adoptive single Mom-to-Be awaiting international adoption, I also like that it portrays a single parent. My only complaint is that in the 21st Century, Mother Hen should have been called Ms. Hen instead of Mrs. Hen. (I'll take the liberty to change the name when I read it to my future daughter)

I never had an interest to go to China. It just seemed like some distant fantasy. But when I was required to pick a book from my high school book report, I picked Postcards From China. I must admit that I partly picked it because it was written by my Aunt, but it was no mistake. This book journies through the lives of a family trying to survive in a country where the language is foreign and the culture is out of the box. As I finished the book I realized how badly I want to go to China. I want to experience being in a different culture, and being with different people. More than that, I want to go to China show the love of Jesus to the people who are suffering there. The pain of the people that is expressed through this book opened my eyes to see how lost this world is. This is an amazing book, and it is worth your time to read it. I am a sophomore who is not a big fan of reading, but I am telling you, it is amazing.

The Postcards came from Xiamen, China's incomparable "garden city". I received Sandy's Postcards one by one, as they were written, and I was one of the people who urged her to publish them in book form so that others could also enjoy Megan, Larry, Sandy, and Xiamen. Sandy's writing is just like her voice---she is a great communicator. I was worried that her editor might tamper with her writing, thereby obscuring her inimitable style, but thankfully, this did not happen. The editor had the good sense to leave her excellent writing intact.
The story is a charming and compelling one, but is Xiamen and its people really like Sandy has described, or is this fiction masquerading as non-fiction? Well, I was so enchanted with what I was hearing about Xiamen that I went and visited the Slavins twice, for a total of ten weeks. The Xiamen you will read about is truly the Xiamen I experienced first hand.
Do something nice for yourself---read this book!

The most impressive part of the story was when the Slavins moved to China so their adopted daughter can reconnect with her country of birth. Their open hearts and eyes made the book a joy to read. I liked its down-to-earth view of life in China that any American can understand. Even though China is westernizing at a dizzying pace, their daily adjustments to life in China reminded me of the many conveniences we take for granted in the U.S. Their spirit of adventure was inspiring. A fun read!

Sandra Slavin relates their family's China experience with an astute eye. She paints pictures with charm, wit and a insight and portrays a culture that eventually impacted their lives in unforeseen ways.

I read this book as an adolescent; about 21 years ago, and it and "The Saracen Lamp" had a very profound affect on my life and my interests. Well written and stimulating, with extreme lasting power, I have thought of this book every year since I have read it.

I would love to see it back in print. Few books since have imprinted themselves as deeply on my soul.

I read this book 20 years ago. It has remained with me ever since. Set on the West Country coast of England, it portrays the setting and the thoughts and feelings of a young girl with fantastic sympathy and eloquence.

I read this book more than 30 years ago and remembered it well enough to look it up today. Haunting and touching, it speaks to young girls without preaching or talking down. It's not current or modern, but rather classic and timeless.

I first read this when I was about twelve and it has stuck in my mind ever since. The story is set in a huge old house on the coast of England. The main character has strange dreams about one of the old portraits-a portrait of a girl who was shipwrecked and adopted by the family over one hundred years ago. These dreams open a barrage of questions-who was the girl? What was her fate? An excellent book for young adults.

Sebastian lives in a hat is well written but the story is really told and reaches a higher level through the detailed realistically sketched illustrations. It is a classic great book (written in 1985) to teach children of the important role that wildlife carers do (although it does portray the experience to be a bit simpler and easier than it is in reality, but this is a kids book after all). What makes this story work so well is that Sebastian is an actual normal wombat and not one taking on human child traits, other than on the last page where grown up he's wearing a hat he is portrayed as an orphaned animal would be. The imagery throughout is child friendly when it needs to be such as the mother killed by a car is not squashed with blood and guts hanging out of her like would obviously be the case in real life but the majority is very realistic looking.

Sebastian Lives in a Hat is the tale of a wombat whose mother was hit by a car (an important lesson to teach children who can remind their parents when driving at night to look out for wildlife), and how he is nursed into an adult wombat. The book maybe could have said what happened to Sebastian in adult life, especially since it was a true story, but then again we don't know what really happened, it might unfortunately not be the positive ending children would be looking for so maybe we are better of making our own suggestions such as he went to a wildlife park to educate school children.

This book would be an excellent motivation for a teacher or someone to use for a class of children to do a small fundraiser for injured wildlife organisations such as Wildcare in Australia, wildlife animal hospitals or to donate towards research and breeding programs for the endangered northern hairy nosed wombat. All over the world there are similar carers and causes, a good book to motivate others.

Another good educational children's picture book that portrays animals such as they actually are and not as human type characters is Python by Pauline Reilly.

My mother used to read this book to me when I was a child and it was one of my favourites (I also loved Koala Lou and Samantha Seagulls Sandals). I think the editorial on this book is way too harsh and neglects the consideration that books geared towards the very young are usually written for an adult to read out loud to the child. When an adult reads to a child reading can become a way to explore new ideas, such as learning what a pouch is. I love this book and have given it as a gift to many youngsters.

"Sebastian lives in a hat. It's a brown woollen hat. Sebastian is a pink fuzzy wombat."

Australian Marsupials are iconic to the Australian image; kangaroos, koalas, possums, wallabies and bandicoots all belong to this special group of animals.

These animals are wild and often roam close to our highways, resulting in a lot of road accidents. Australians are taught from a young age that if you accidentally hit and kill one of these animals it is important to check it's pouch for a baby.

"Sebastian lives in a hat" explores the care needs of a baby wombat after it's mother dies in a car accident. As a kindergarten teacher with over 10 years experience I can honestly say that there would be few kindergartens in Australia that does not have this book in their library. This book won best children's book in the 1985 Whitley Awards, and was shortlisted for the Australian Picture book of the year in 1986. It is beautifully illustrated and teaches the important concept of caring for orphaned animals.

This book is not patronizing, as suggested by the editorial, it is written simply so to be understood by young children. The gaps in this book, as also suggested in this editorial, will serve to promote questions from your child that will generate further interest to know more about such concepts as Australian animals, mammals and marsupials, indigenous animals to your own Country, special care for animals etc.

Please do not dismiss this book, based on the above editorial, it is an excellent story with important messages and concepts.

I'm a college student, and my roomie, from Australia, read this book to me. It's not only a wonderful book with whimsical value for a college girl, but also gives great lessons for children about rehabbing animals. The pictures are adorable!

With luck, this helpful volume will encourage people to adopt wonderful cats from shelters and rescue groups!

Pssst! Here's a book that tells you the very best place to find a cat. Perhaps you've heard negative or scary things about animal shelters. If you, like many people, are a little nervous about entering a shelter to adopt a cat, grab a copy of Shelter Cats by Karen Commings. This books gives you the courage (and the knowledge) to choose the right cat for you. It also banishes many animal shelter myths and describes the great things that shelters nationwide are accomplishing for cats. An informative book full of tips and tales, Shelter Cats should be required reading for anyone who steps through shelter doors to adopt a cat!

No greater pleasure than to read the stories of cats who find new lives through quality shelters with caring workers! The photos are nice and the tales of furry feline tails will entrance and delight the soul!

After reading Ms. Commings' book, Shelter Cats, I would recommend it not only to everyone who is interesting in adopting one of society's "throw away" pets, but to anyone who works or volunteers at their local shelter. Not only does she cover lots of ground, she obviously knows what she's talking about. She also mentions the most forgotten animals of our society, the "special needs" cats. The cats that have been abused or suffer from medical problems that will require them to have a special guardian the rest of their lives with lots of love in their hearts. Since I work at a non-profit, privately funded, "no-kill" shelter in Austin, Tx., I know how hard it is to place some of these cats in loving, PERMANENT homes, but they make the most REWARDING pets. At this moment "Bob" comes to mind, a kitty that was brought to us who is blind & deaf, but is pure joy to be with. In her book Ms. Comming's also mentions several animal establishments, like Denver Dumb Friends, the Tree House Foundation & the S.F. SPCA. All of these organizations are a WEALTH of valuable information, and they share a lot of it with the public through this book. This book is definitely FIVE STARS!!!!

Our family has been listening to the CD in the car on and off for the last month. It is very user friendly! My 4 year biological son has even picked it up. In fact he probably speaks better Russian than my husband and I.

The CD says the English version of the word, then repeats it twice in Russian. Once for you to hear, then the second time so you can repeat it.
And all of the words are appropriate for what an adoptive parent would need. This has been a purchase we were very happy we made!

The small book is a great size to use daily plus to pack on your trip. The CD is a great tool to practice with in the car. I liked having the book to reference the words that I just couldn't figure out.

I LOVE this book. It has very useful phrases that will be needed for adoptive families. It's not a travel phrasebook, it's specifically for interacting with your new child. The phrases are ones that I will actually use and are grouped by topics - Bedtime, Family, etc. I know I won't be able to remember all the phrases if they're long but I'm able to get the key words. This is really, really helpful for someone adopting a child from Russia, especially if your child will be a toddler or older. I am practicing with it so I can communicate with my child when she arrives!

This book & CD combo provides an easy to follow format that lends itself well to memorization of key phrases that will be of great use when meeting your waiting child. How comforting to him/her to hear familiar words and phrases from his new family. I also listen to the CD in the car and get strange looks from others. Once home I try my newly learned phrases out on my dog, Otis. At first he would turn and walk away, but now he understands several of the phrases especially related to food, water, and toys. This is the best and most practical book & CD that I have come across and I strongly recommend it to anyone traveling to Russia for an adoption. Best of luck to all!

I love the book and CD. It has phrases which are specifically usefully with children. It is easy to use and easy to find phrases you are looking for. I have been playing the CD in the car and chuckle as I mangle repeating the Russian phrases and I think I'm scaring the other drivers, but it's easy to follow along which is what I need. If you are looking for a few phrases to get you by during the adoption process, this product is great.

Great Read! Period. I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys being gripped for an extended period of time. A unique story with great characters, this novel is one of the most interesting works I have read. I look forward to many more from Neal Alexander.

I found this book to tell quite an interesting story and it was an "easy read". (which is a good thing). It was a very informative story about an interesting mix of families. Haven't read it yet? You should! Could use a bit of editing but that didn't slow me down. (sorry) I began reading the book during Hurricane Rita by booklight and it really helped me pass the time and kept me distracted from all of the inconviences of having no power. Thanks! I couldn't put it down.

Sally Rose, Louisiana

This is a very intimate glimpse into the lives of several families and the impact of adoption. It was hard to put down because I connected so much with the characters, especially Ruth Kilmer. Although at times the book could have been improved with some careful editing, this doesn't detract from the overall story. A good read for a variety of audiences, however I expect that anyone ever touched by adoption would especially enjoy this book.

This is a very heartwarming book and hard to put down. You get to to know this family as if it were your own. A true look back at how things were in the 60s in the South. Excellent novel.

This is a fantastic book! Made me laugh out loud. Has the greatest lines!
This book has fabulous characters, one of whom is a teacher that sees and inspires greatness in her students in a way that is so relatable to them!This is such a provocative book in the sense that it is so real! Karlene is dealing with classic issues that all teens no matter what geography or time they live in deal with. I am using this book with my reading group to inspire a love of words as well as a sense that anyone can make it with hard work no matter what situations one encounters. Karlene is a magnificent girl in an average environment that is progressing towards her wonderfulness as the book progresses! I recommend the book to teens and adults alike.

Remember spelldowns? This book is way bigger than a classroom spelldown. Karlene Bridges is a phenomenal speller. She studies what she calls "chapters" in the dictionary, like the "Tt chapter" and the "Kk chapter." She lives and breathes spelling.

Karlene's home life is held together by her mother and her burning desire to be the National Spelling Bee champion. Life with an unpredictable alcoholic father makes her world a bit of a roller coaster ride. There are times she recalls tender memories, but mostly there are erratic drunken moments filled with disappointment.

The arrival of Mrs. Harrison, a new Latin teacher, fills Karlene's life with hope. A lover of language, Mrs. Harrison becomes coach and mentor to the young speller. Karlene is welcomed into the Harrisons' home and encouraged in her efforts to excel. With Mrs. Harrison's guidance, contests are won, and Karlene inches closer to her dream.

In SPELLDOWN, Karon Luddy brings the spelling world to life for readers. Her story is filled with intriguing characters and terrific vocabulary words. Even the chapter titles will increase your knowledge of words. Luddy keeps readers on the edge of their seats as they observe each spelling contest and watch Karlene grow.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

While Spelldown is listed as a YA book, I beg to disagree. Karlene, the 13 year old narrator, is a child of the late '60s, and readers who were young then are now adults. Readers will be reminded of those years as this charming young lady narrates her life as an articulate, mature, and vibrant adolescent, who is living in a poor, loving, but dysfunctional family. At times, Karlene is the "adult" trying to create a "normal" family life for her younger siblings and herself. Adults, as well as teens, will identify with Karlene and her world. I hope there will be a sequel; Karlene has captured my heart.

I confess that I am a personal friend of the author, Karon Luddy. I have known her since 1976, and she was a student in several of my English classes. What follows is a paragraph I wrote to her after reading SPELLDOWN. The "crummy little novel" remark was just part of our competing-authors banter from previous emails. WARNING -- the end of the paragraph contains a "spoiler" of sorts. My recommendation: buy it and read it.

"I am so proud of you. Your crummy little novel is absolutely brilliant. I'm a thousand percent jealous! I loved every page, every paragraph, every sentence. The wordplay is mind-boggling! It is so intelligent, so beyond intelligent. But mostly I just loved Karlene. Right from the beginning, so intelligent and independent-minded, half-child, half-adult manque, an astute observer, and yet she does the dishes without complaint and chops down and hauls home and decorates a Christmas tree without feeling sorry for herself. The details you incorporated make it all seem so undeniably real, and Southern, and personal. And I love that at the heart of the novel is the girl's search to understand love, especially family love. She's surrounded by it, immersed in it, but can't comprehend it. At the end, she seems to let go of the need to get an intellectual grip on it and just accepts it, happy that it's real."