Adoption Books

This book has to do alot about discovering family, and mainly about one's self. The character in the book named Mai, strugged with these problems. Being half white, and half asian, as well adopted at birth, these things reflected her everyday. Though she knew she was different from her adopted family, the realization never really surfaced, untill a few racial events occured. Dumbstruck, and befounded, she yerns to know more about her family roots. She later on discovers she had an aunt Lien, living in Boston. Not knowing weather she'd be accepted, though wanted answers to her questions, she spends the summer in Boston with her biological family. During this overwheming quest, Mai slowy discovers and unveals the secrets of her past. She learns about all the hardships the family had to make. The amount of things they had to face in order to survive, as well staying strong as a famliy. Mai's visit may have brought back many painful memories, but it brought out alot from people. As well made the meaning of family, more important that you would think.

Overall, I guess what the meaning behind this book is, is that it's important to know who you are, and that family is what bonds all of us together. It's like a spiderweb. Friends, memories, even bickering is what keeps it strong, and that, therefore connects the web together, making it whole.

I found this story to be pretty unique because it is written about a Vietnamese American teenager who is adopted by a Caucasian American family. She deals with racism in the small town that she lives in, majority of which who are Caucasian. From her feelings of not belonging, she goes on a journey to learn more about her Vietnamese roots. Throughout the book, the main character, Mai, is trying to learn about her past involving the mother she never knew. The book is written in a simple and personal way to where you feel close to the characters. With the author's simplistic style of writing, I believe that many young people can easily understand and get enjoyment out of it. I like the way that the author slowly revealed the secrets of Mai's past because it made me want to keep reading to find out the whole story. Other than learning the secrets of Mai's past, there are other stories in the book that are occurring at the same time which enhance the book.

I really enjoyed the book The Face in My Mirror by Maureen Wartski because it is a realistic tale about an adopted Vietnamese-American teenager, Mai Houston, searching for her roots. She begins her quest after a racially-motivated incident against her in her small Iowa town. While she spends her summer with her aunt, Lien, and cousins in Boston, Mai at first doesn't really feel welcome, especially by Lien, who seems to be very cold to her. During this time, Mai learns secrets about members about her family and falls in love. The book is well-written and moves quickly and the revelations of secrets will keep the reader interested. The book also contains realistic depictions of racism and its effects, family relationships, teenage life, the plight of immigrants and the influence of gangs. I recommend the book for young students starting in the sixth grade.

Written by Julie Nelson, who has taught in at-risk early childhood settings for nearly 30 years, Families Change: A Book for Children Experiencing Termination of Parental Rights is a simple, softcover picturebook about the realities of when families have big problems and need to change so that kids can be safe. The illustrations, painted in warm colors, evoke a powerful sense of hearth and home while the text gently discusses difficult situations. "When families change, kids can remember the happy times and the sad and mad and scary times too. Kids can remember and love their birth families. Kids can love their new families too." The last few pages offer a serious message to parents, foster parents, social workers, teachers, and caregivers, offering basic information about how to support and encourage young children amidst the terrifying crossroad of the termination of parental rights, as well as a list of resources and organizations created to help such children and those who look after them. Highly recommended especially for sharing with children in foster care or other, similar situations.

I am a mental health clinician, providing mental health treatment to both children and adults who've experienced abuse & neglect. This book is a wonderful tool for assisting children in understanding what is happening to their families. It does a nice job of portraying outcomes in a "hopeful" light. Finally, it is a great tool for facilitating conversation with the less-enthused late school age child, who is not necessarily happy to be placed in mental health therapy.

With so few books available for foster children, this is an amazing resource! The concepts are presented in such gentle, reassuring, and child-friendly language. I think that books like this really help children to know that they are not the first or only child to go through the traumatic experience of being separated from there birth family (and possibly abuse and neglect). And when they know they are not alone, it may help them to believe it is not their fault. Once again, it is very well written, and the artwork is quite nice.

Christine Mitchell, author and illustrator of:
Welcome Home, Forever Child: A Celebration of Children Adopted as Toddlers, Preschoolers, and Beyond

I met Rick Ouston some years ago. As a matter of fact, it was the exact time that the book was being written. I was told personally, in great detail, the contents of the book. I was tearful and joyful of the whole experience, (hearing the story from the mouth of the writer himself). As it were, I was not prepared for the intensity and emotional magnitude of the book as it was written. In his book, Rick speaks of his separated and detached family, his long lost sister, and the mother who gave them up for adoption some forty years ago. He tells of the lengths he had to go to in order to find out the truths, half-truths, and lies of his unsure past, and how he came to unite the family he never knew. Even after hearing the story and experiencing the emotion that the entire family endured, once I got my hands on the book I couldn't put it down. It's definitely a must read for everyone, but be prepared for wet cheeks. Thanks Rick

Wow! What a powerful book. You won't be putting this one down once you start.

Not having being 'adopted out' I had no idea of the feelings of adoptees. I can certainly understand why you would want to know the backgrounds of your birth family but was unaware, or never thought about, the hoops you have to go through to find this information out and then the sensitivity you need should you try to reach out to your birth family. Rick has done it all with alacrity and has found both happiness in siblings that he never knew he had, a parent who is bound to her new life, and a grandmother from the old school who gives him short shrift.

Just a great read.

I bought this book when I was in Canada a couple of years ago, and I am so glad I happened to see it and buy it! It is the true story of an adopted man who searches for--and finds--his biological family. These types of books are not usually written by men, so I didn't know what to expect. Well! The author is as emotional and caught up in his biological story as any woman. (Imagine that! A man with feelings!) A lovely man, a great writer, a heart-pounding story.

Finding Joy is a happy tale about the early life of a girl in China who is placed in an orphanage. The happiness comes when the girl is adopted by American parents and brought to the USA.

This is a good read for children to learn about the way other people live.

I too have lots of Chinese and adoption book for my daugther as well, but depending on your daughter you really should see if this book is right for you child by seeing if your local library has it or by ordering it at a book store that won't make you buy the book if you don't like it or think your child is ready for this book. You know your child best, is she emotionally ready and if they are so, to also know about not being born in your tummy, but of someone elses who chose not to keep her.

The 1st page shows a mother & father getting ready to leave their child beside a bridge. It talks about the parents being sad about leaving her and the only mention on this page of the " One- Child policy" rule is the last sentence which says No Room for Girls. There is more information on the very last page in the Author's Note which does speak more of the One Child Policy and Old Chinese belief on why boys are more important that girls.

In the book the baby is found with a note and a red blanket and both are returned on Metcha / Gotcha day. Most children are not found with a note and if they had a blanket I have never heard of a child being given the blanket back to keep.... it would be a wonderful item to have for your adopted child to have the blanket or clothes they where found in. I don't know why they aren't kept......

The book talks of the little girl named Shu-li being found and going to an orphanage with loving caretakers who had " room for girls". The story then goes on to a couple who has older children who are no longer at home but want a daughter to love. The mom excitely travels to China wondering....." yet a thread of fear wrapped around her chest and pulled tight. What would she find in this distant place? Could her family love a baby born to strangers?" Again, think of your child and how they would process this........and in the next page the last sentence reads " The mother smiled. The thread of fear unwrapped and fell away' when she finally sees her daughter. After metcha or gotcha day happens the next page is of mother and daughter flying home with the abandonment note and blanket. Everyone is happy at the airport and Shu-li has a new country, family and name Joy. The story ends with" In a chest in the attic, the red blanket lies neatly folded. When the time seems right, the mother will take it out and tell her daughter about flying far way to the land that had no room for girls, and finding joy"

The illustrations are done in watercolor by Yong Chen and are beautiful. I hope this review helps.

I purchased this book on recommendation from a fellow adoptive parent. We hav all of the other popular picture books on this topic. I have been introducing my daughter's story to her slowly, without much interest on her behalf until we saw the opening pages of this book. She was totally facinated by the story and while the details from then on are different, she is able to comprehend how they apply to her own start in this life. In turn, it has started to unlock some of her questions and early conversations about our familyh. This book brings it front and center and has opened up a lot of great dialog and interest in the other pieces in our library.

It is beautifully and sensitively written and the illustrations are gorgeous watercolor drawing.

I bought this book and CD set as a gift for a friend (the birth mother) and the adoptive mother. The book has some simple, yet inspiring pictures. Mostly the book is just the lyrics to the songs which are included in the back on CD, but it does have a few inspiring words from the man who wrote the music, Michael McLean. Amazing talent. This book is sure to touch the hearts of anyone who has given a child up for adoption, recieved a child of adoption, or in any way been involved in the process. The six songs are written from the point of views of the birth mother (From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours), the adoptive parents (The Gift We Could Not Give Each Other), the birth grandmother (Hardest for Me), the child (Yours), and two songs about hope and faith (Hope Hiding There, Something Perfect). The CD includes the 6 songs sung and also just the music/accompaniment for people who would like to preform them. All in all a good buy and an amazing piece of work from a wonderful man.

This is a fantastic adoption book. It has very touching thoughts and feelings as well as the lyrics to the songs. The pictures are beautiful scenery pictures or pictures of people. The messages will truly touch the hearts of those you listen and read this book. We are about to adopt our second child and are giving this book to both our children's birth parents.

This is a beautiful book and would make a wonderful gift for anyone who has been touched by adoption. The pictures are gorgeous and the text is
songs that Mr. McLean has written about adoption. The story of how he first came to write "From God's Arm's," is touching. He includes songs from almost every perspective, the birth mother, the adoptive couple, and the adopted child.

I found myself unable to put this book down. In the beginning when the author talks about her infertility, I was laughing out loud. As I continued to read her story of adopting her son from Guatemala and the other stories from other adoptive individuals, I also found myself crying. The stories are so moving. I am beginning my second read of the book. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

It's a very moving book. A must read for social workers in the field of adoption and educators.

I purchased this book not really knowing what all was involved in the adoption process. What an eye opener! I feel this book is a must read for anyone who is contemplating adoption, whether international or domestic. I appreciated reading about other people's adoption experiences. It gave a much wider view of the subject matter. The book was moving, sometimes comical but always touching, real and honest. A must read for anyone interested in adoption.

Any one with newspaper experience will empathize with the autobiography of this author as he relates the rough and tumble life of a reporter moving around the country from one small town paper to another until he finally lands on the metrpolitan Buffalo News. With humor and appreciation, the author descrbes the foibles and characters of the editors who peopled his career. His career spanned the years that began the consolidation and demise of newspapers around the country. He was working for the Buffalo Courier Express when it closed in 1982. He describes his roll as a guild officer,and the frustration and bitterness felt by himself and associates at the demise. The author did not arrived at his career the easy way. His descriptions of a paranoid mother and father who often expressed himself with violence makes one wonder that he was able to achieve his goal of becoming a writer. His story of achieving a college education and his goal of writing deserve our admiration.

I Never Looked for My Mother
And Other Regrets of a Journalist
Joseph P. Ritz
Booklocker.com, Inc.
Genre: Autobiographical
ISBN: 1591138795, $14.95, 184 pp, 2006

This book is a memoir of short stories from the life of Joseph P. Ritz. He is an award-winning journalist, published author and playwright. He has a rich and varied background which adds to the interest, quality and humor in this book.

I think what impressed me the most about his life growing up was the impact the Catholic church had on his thinking and in particular on his ideas about sexuality and sinfulness. It's nice to know, judging from the number of children he sired, that he finally figured out the mystery for himself.

If you enjoy memoirs of interesting people who were involved in historical events, want to experience the challenges of growing up in another time with dysfunctional parents and are interested in knowing something about the newspaper business, I'm certain you will enjoy the author's story.

Other books by the author include The Despised Poor.

Reviewed by Kaye Trout - May 8, 2006 - Copyright

Joseph Ritz describes with raw honesty how the external forces throughout our lives shape the person that we become. His painful accounts of being raised by an adoptive psychologically paranoid mother and abusive father during America's years of depression and wars are told with a generous sprinkling of humor to avoid being too dark, but with an openness that draws on the reader's emotions. His success as a journalist gives hope that we can all overcome life's adversities. I recommend that you read it.

I took this book on a relatively short business flight, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, thinking that it would keep me occupied round-trip. I wish I'd also taken Musser's "To Prison With Love" because I ended up finishing "I Would Have Searched Forever" before we even landed in San Francisco! It was a fascinating read.

I especially recommend this book to adoptees who may be in the midst of a reunion, or planning a reunion, with their families. I have been reunited a little over a year now with my mom and the rest of my natural family and I still have trouble sometimes understanding the circumstances surrounding my mom's surrender of the right to raise me. However, there was much societal pressure in the 50s and 60s for young mothers to give their children to the infertile to raise; that pressure still exists in many adoption arenas today. Sandy Musser not only explains the social conditions that led to the surrender of her first daughter but also the love that she continues to feel for her oldest child. Although she is truly the mother of her daughter, she sometimes underestimates herself as a mother. I imagine that the adoption industry rhetoric, of telling her that she's less than a mother for not raising her first child, has taken a toll on her. Through telling her story, however, she has educated many mothers and allowed them to mourn the loss of raising their children.

I was also deeply moved by the other mothers featured in the book; they described surrendering the rights to raise their children, often after a desperate attempt to keep their babies. I only pray that many young mothers and people who plan to adopt will read this book and realize how much love natural mothers have for their children, whether or not they raise them. Unfortunately, Musser's daughter, although an adult when her mother found her, still seemed to be steeped in adoptee guilt and acted more like a child than an adult concerning their relationship.

We adoptees have so many issues to deal with concerning our adoptions, but through reading Sandy Musser's book, we can begin to heal from the wounds of being separated from our mothers and our families.

This story has so much in common with other moms who've lost there children to adoption. It does not fit the stereotype of women who lose their children to adoption. Everyone should read it to get rid of that stereotype and replace it with reality. Sandy Musser packs so much true adoption information in this book that you won't read in most adoption books. Then read "To Prison with Love" and see how much Ms. Musser evolved in her thinking about adoption.

"I Would Have Serched Forever" shows so much sincerity, trust and most of all the meaning of a Mother's love for her child. In this book the author reaches out to all women,men and children. She tells her story all of it, the good and the bad. This book tells how things were in the days of the "50"s . It truly states how past generations delt with emotional situations. It also shows how our government officials have failed the American people.

Reading the author's story reminds me of the past I grew-up in. The story shows that human beings do make mistakes or bad decisions. The book explains how some decisions were not made by us but for us. We all can learn from this book. We all must learn as the author Sandy Musser Smith learned to trust our Hearts. Sandy shows us that the walls of life are thin. Her love for God shows us to go forward, even go backwards, do what ever we think will make us succeed at the end. The author expresses that truthfullness is the key. Sandy shows us to accept that FAMILY is more than Today!. Family is yesterday and tomorrow, its spouses,parents,relatives,children,friends,pets. Family is what we make it or allow it to be.

The author shows us we shouldn't cast aside our memories. She shows us that the memories are always in our heart and we should be brave like Sandy was and listen to our hearts and do and say what we believe is right.

The author was young when she gave birth to her first child. She taught us that we are all young at one time and need the adults to assist us BUT they shouldn't make decisions for them. We must trust them to make their own decisions. Sandy is a model we can look at and say. YES! this is my choice let me make it on my own! What seems right to everyone or someone else may be wrong for others. The decisions we make to keep secrets of our pasts may hurt the ones we love in the future. She teaches us to trust the ones who really love us and give them the chance to make their own decisions. Try not to forget the bad or the good, just do as Sandy did give your love ones the chance to decide what is best for them!

This book shows the real meaning of life. The author has lived and will live in the Past, Present and in the Future. I will remember this most about her in this book. Sandy Musser Smith trusted herself and remembered the past. Her ability to do this will encourage more people to serch for what belongs to them. May her love for her family last and last and last and lasts forever!

I am looking forward to reading her other book To Prison For Love. A very Special Friend gave me these books to read. I felt like she was talking to me. The book was written from the heart. It made you believe in life and others and it made you want to cheer for yourself and others when someone has a smile on their face because they have had a hole in their heart sealed with true love. There is nothing more precious than a woman's and man's love for a child. Sandy Musser Smith may your books reach the hands of many and then God will be able to guide them to freedom and Truthfullness and True Love of a Parent.

This story not only gives an overview of African animals, it also tells a touching story of a rhino whose mother has been killed by poachers and is left to fend for himself. The pastel double-page spreads beautifully depict the story's mood. An excellent choice for public and personal libraries.

Jubela will please young readers. The book begins with baby rhino Jubela playing in cooling mud and being lovingly cared for by his mother: "Just before sunlight surrendered to darkness, mother scraped the dry mud from baby's body with her great horn. Baby sighed with pleasure." When poachers take his mother's life, Jubela is alone and confused and hungry until an old mother rhino adopts him and teaches him how to survive. An author's note explains that Jubela is based on a true story that occurred in Swaziland. The illustrations, by JoEllen McAllister Stammen, are colorful and soft-edged and enhance this compassionate tale.

Rhinos are dying by the thousands every day due to illegal poaching in Africa and Indonesia. This book focuses on an African rhino. Rest assured that it is a very true story: the likelihood of a calf being orphaned due to poaching, and the way that older rhino females will "adopt" those orphans, describes actual rhino behavior. The most striking things about this particular book are the magnificent illustrations as well as the writing, which you could actually believe is the way a young baby rhino calf processes its world. The language is descriptive and earthy, simple and easy to grasp (good for young readers), and rich with texture and feeling. And as one of the editorial reviews notably points out, there is no anthropomorphizing here. Both author and illustrator play it straight and true.

Kids really need to know about this topic, and this haunting, hopeful book will help them realize what is going on in the world regarding humans and animals such as rhinos. Be prepared for questions such as, "Why did they kill the baby's mommy?" Such issues are not addressed here; Kessler is operating on a more visceral, non-polemical level. That is not to say the book lacks depth regarding the destruction of rhinos at human hands. Just be ready with the answers regarding poaching -- the "why" answers -- when you share this with children. If you need information, e-mail me or go to "Google" and just type in "rhinoceros" or "poaching." You'll find out all you need to know.

This book really kept my attention. The development of the characters was great. I'd like to see more books by this author. Relationships are so important in today's world and even a broken relationship can be mended. It shows that time doesn't have to be a factor.

As the teenage mother of a baby girl I put up for adoption, and as an adopted child myself, this novel touched me on many different levels. I was Jessica. And I was Gwen. Each time I turned the page, I felt my life story unfolding

This book moves beyond the issues of adoption and loss to a universal story about the power and tenacity of love. It's a tale of mothers and daughters that is both touching and affecting. I felt enriched by this journey into the heart of what it means to be human.