Adoption Books

This is a MUST READ for truly understanding adoption from the adoptee's perspective.

I highly recommend this book as it provides so many insightful examples and firsthand stories of how to help love and nuture your adopted child with knowledge of themselves and their birth family. It helps put the child first.

Conventional wisdom of closed adoptions needs to be challenged. How can a person live a rich, full, and productive life with so many unanswered questions?

Let your child be the connection between two families (birth & adoptive), and honor who they are.

Joyce Magure Pavao does what so few writers on adoption do: instead of taking sides with one member of the adoption triad or another, she treats all of them with warmth and compassion. Yes, this book is a wealth of concrete information about the adoption process, and about adoption as a lifelong form of identity and family structure. But most importantly, it is a book that reaches into the hearts of birthparents and adoptive parents, and helps them cultivate compassion and understanding for one another.

This book transformed my relationship to my son's birthparents. My son was adopted from foster care, and I spent a long time being angry and afraid of his birthparents. With Joyce Maguire Pavao's help, I managed to reach out to them, and found out that they were every bit as terrified and bewildered as I was. Now we have overcome our fears and we can work together to create an environment for our son that is focused on his needs instead of ours. We can give him the truth about his beginnings, and the knowledge that we all love him tremendously. Pavao has helped us change a situation that could have made our son completely neurotic into one that is helping him grow up healthy and strong.

The book is only ten bucks. And it's the best ten bucks you will ever invest in your kids or in yourself. Buy it.

I HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET BUT HAVE SKIMMED OVER IT. INFORMATION LOOKS TO BE WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. SATISFIED WITH PRICE AND PURCHASE.

My husband and I are in the process of adopting a teenage boy. I purchased 4 books to prepare myself for possible situations that may arise. This was by far the best one of those I have read. The book was very easy reading and quite enjoyable. The book describes actual events from different case studies and had alot of helpful info. I found most of the other books boring and hard to get through. This was straight to the point and offered real life solutions and explainations for certain behaviors.

This book is an excellent discussion of the ways adoption is experienced by all members of the triad, with particular emphasis on the normal developmental issues adoptees face at different times of their lives. Joyce Maguire Pavao is clear and forthright, sensitive and reassuring. Her wise insight is illustrated with examples and the poetry of adoptees. I highly recommend this book.

Oh this ia a beautifully written book by a beautiful, caring lady. No I don't know her personally but I wish I did. Also the art work by Liz Murphy is stunning. A great gift for any child & I haven't even played the CD that comes with it yet.

Providing a moral lesson and a combination of warmth and passion, Broadway Barks will certainly entertain those children possessing a love for animals. Simplicity and humor intertwine to amuse children as they page through the jungle of dazzling collage work, capturing the lively scene in such a way that children adore. Kids will roar with laughter and have a swingin' good time while rooting for the lonely little pup that strives to overcome a dog-eat-dog world in pursuit of real love.

Visit www.readingjungle.com for the full review!

Good little story for young children, and nice artwork with an illustrated Bernadette and Mary Tyler Moore easily recognizable. But what really puts this over is the CD where you get Bernadette reading the story (it's always fun to hear her voice, which leads me to...) and A NEW SONG by her!!! Plus the money you pay goes to BB itself, which is a very nice and admirable plus.

A Unique Bunny

I have always been a huge fan of Ms. Peters. This book is great for broadway and dog lovers! I especially loved Kramer's Song-It makes me and my niece cry. Awesome!

Kramer's Song" from Broadway Barks sung and wrote by Bernadette Peters

Good night my pal
Good night my friend
Tomorrow I'll see you again
Close your eyes, dont worry
There's no need to be in a hurry
Sleep deep my friend
I am here

You are my dream
You are my wish
Tonight you'll sleep in total bliss
I will send you moonbeams
I will send you angels in your dreams
Sleep deep my friend
I am here

I always dreamed I'd have a friend
Someone to love me who would send
away my bad dreams, away my fears
Then suddenly you appeared
Goodnight old soul goodnight my dear
I am smilng now from ear to ear
I will always love you
I'll always protect you
You are in my heart forever
Always in our dreams together
and tomorrow when you wake up
I'll be here

A wonderful story! I did not realize that the CD was going to have the story read by the author....a nice surprise!

­Gammage's vast experience as a newspaper reporter comes through with details facts along with the benefits of his feelings. However, he often seems to be using the writing as a therapy session to deal with some of his issues with adoption (his ghosts), China the USA, and religion. Because of this, the books seemed disjointed; a difficult style of story-telling to follow.

Jeff Gammage speaks of his newly adopted daughters with an honest clarity and loyal devotion. Refreshing and insighful testimony from a father's perspective on falling in love with parenthood. With extensive research and historical facts on Chinese history and culture throughout the book, it is a must read for every new parent waiting to adopt from China! As a mother to 7 children, 5 through foreign adoption, and an adoption website owner, and moderator of a military adoption support group, I found Jeff Gammage's book to be a light of hope and truth for the orphan child.
Barbara Burke
www.adoptionfamily.org

I am in the process of adopting a child from China and this book touched my every emotion...happiness, sadness, anger, and frustration. Jeff was able to capture all facets of the human emotion and provided poignant points and truth to an adoption journey. I didn't want to put the book down and found myself thinking about even when I wasn't reading it. Jeff's words permanently pressed against my mind, heart and soul. Jeff wrote with such compelling imagery that I felt like I was on the journey with them. This book is remarkable and I would recommended it to anyone.

From the first chapter I felt as though I was with The Gammage family on their journey. I myslef am an adoptive parent of a darling little girl from Chongqing and have been home 9 months. It brought back vivid memories and feelings I had gone through on our trip. I was smiling and crying all the way through the book. This is a must read for anyone who is thinking about or who has adopted a child. Jeff Gamage captured the feeling and emotions that all of us experience on our journey to parenthood. Bravo!

As a father of an adopted daughter from China, I was looking forward to the author's views on his experience. The book does contain some keen observations, and a few interesting and emotional perspectives, but overall I felt the tone too cynical. Too often his expressions of the incredible love and joy of fatherhood were overshadowed by his pessimistic views on Chinese culture and government, his critical assessment of an individual's motives, and his personal insecurities. Perhaps his newspaper journalism background contributes to this distrustful viewpoint, but it detracts from enjoyment of the book.
As the author himself writes, his wife and daughter look to the bright sunny days of tomorrow, whereas he has a tendency to dwell on the dark days of the past. That accurately sums up the tone of the book as well.

We wasted years and tons of money in non-productive therapies, attachment work, medication, and family therapy till we bought and utilized this book. Dr. Federici hits the nail on the head when he describes how to "de-institutionalize" children. It was hard work but safe, structured and successful. We read so many other books about using "attachment therapy"; logic; medication and even knowing when to "give up". This book gave us, who truely felt "Hopeless" a chance to gain control over our two very disturbed Romanian children that all the other "specialists"(including some of the big people in the child development field)had given up on.

Dr. Federici is the only author and professional we have found who truely understands what parents having very disturbed children go through. His book is easy to read, right to the point, and provides hope and a great deal of ideas (hard solutions) to problems. He mixes no words, but gives hope and understanding in a compassionate way. We have contacted him, heard him lecture, and know that he is "on target" , where all these other "experts" miss the entire boat, especially these so-called "attachment therapists. His Second Edition is now out that we will get soon.

This was the most common sense and practical book a person could buy who has felt totally overwhelmed by two very troubled children adopted form eastern Europe. No "sugar-coating" here, as Dr. Federici get right down to the cold, hard facts that helped put our family back together. All the other books played around with "RAD", "ADHD", and other catchy terms but never got to the right way to treat damaged children. We hope there are more books coming from this author.

This book is an indispensable source for those who have adopted children from orphanages. I wish I'd had it when I got home from Russia 7 years ago. My child can't be found in the Dr. Spock books, but he's all over the pages of this one. Thank you for confirming some things we've already discovered and given us a guide for where to go next.

Finally, someone wrote a book about very troubled children without being afraid to actually tell you what to do. We have struggled for years with our two emotionally disturbed Russian-adopted children and have covered every type of therapy with no positive outcome. We even tried all that "holding-attachment therapy" which was a waste of time and money. Medication after medication, play therapy, talk and family therapy all failed, as our kids were smarter than the therapists. Dr. Federici has taken a very direct approach that puts parents back in charge and keeps the family moving forward. No frills or hand holding-just hard work. We contacted him frequently for advise and he was very helpful. We know his "volume two" is due soon and will surely continue this family centered approach.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Maple Dale. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I'm also a riding instructor and could relate to Leah's passion for her horses as well as her relationships with her students. I look forward to reading more stories from MaryAnn.

This book was such a fun read! I own horses and can relate to the story as our barn was sold to developers. I could not put this book down and finished it in a day. The characters are so real and the writing creates a vivid picture for the reader. I think anyone who enjoys a good mystery and loves horses will be thrilled to own this book!

My authors of choice are Stephen King and Anne Rice, so when I was introduced to Maryann Myers by way of Call Me Lydia I'll admit it took me awhile to pick it up and start reading. I am so very glad that I did! Maryann has a wonderful way of making you care about her characters...the cast of Mapledale is no exception. A half dozen very different people drawn together by a single force and you can't help but turn the page to see how their struggles will be settled. The force is Mapledale, the relationships numerous, and the emotions heartfelt (whether it's pride, concern, joy, or contempt). On top of everything else it is simply a really GOOD story. It may be getting colder outside now, but there is a very inviting fire burning between the pages of this book - I suggest brewing a cup of tea and settling into the warmth that is Mapledale. Enjoy! And thank you, Maryann!

From someone who doesn't read much, I found I couldn't put this book down. I just had to find out what would happen next. Maple Dale will make you laugh and cry but thru it all you'll find a character you can completely relate to. A true story with real emotion, at the end you'll just want more. I have given the book as gifts several times and everyone has agreed, this IS a great story. I hope that MaryAnn gives us many more great books, readers need more wonderful stories like hers. What an imagination!

MaryAnn Meyers is a true artist. Maple Dale, as with the other books I have read by MaryAnn, is a canvas on which she has painted her characters in livid fashion. She stirs emotion with a heartwarming story line that floats like the spirit of the main character, Leah. You find yourself despising the villan, feeling empathy for the young equestrian and demanding justice for the headmistress of Maple Dale.

Although I know very little about horses and riding, Maple Dale was a wonderful read and continues to solidify my position as a true MaryAnn Meyers fan.

This important and long-needed book supports and facilitates the telling of the child's adoption story with the young child's participation. Every adoption involves loss. The most profound loss for the child is the loss of the birth mother. The book guides the adoptive parent and the child to her presence, illuminating the birth mother in images, realizing her in words, bringing her into the light of their world. An essential gift to aid the life-long journey of understanding for both parent and child.

Becky M.
Mom to two daughters from China

Even as a child, memories of my past from long ago and thousands of miles away would catch me off guard. I might have been playing with Barbie dolls with my friends, and suddenly, I would remember, walking along in a dusty, yellow marketplace with my father, along the busy streets of Seoul. But it was mostly at nighttime, when the world was asleep, that my mind reverted to my childhood, a different childhood, a life that seemed to belong to someone else.

Whether we travel in our own quiet spaces of our mind to a place that was once our home or physically trace our paths back to where our lives began, for adoptees, the journey is one that many of us make. Such journeys are the subject of We See the Moon.

Author Carrie Kitze beautifully captures the simple, yet haunting thoughts that many adoptees may share. Her writing is fleeting and poetic, like clouds, that float across our minds with questions of one's past:

I was born
In a faraway land,
of parents
With faces in the shadows.
Where are you now?

For many adoptees, the person who gave birth to us seems like a complete stranger, so different from us in every way. But all the differences in the world are bridged by the metaphor of the moon, which as the title of the book evokes, is constant and comforting. The moon connects us to our past and present, and no matter where we are, we see the same moon.

All I need is to look
at the moon in the night sky
and think of you.

The simple text leaves wide spaces for thought on each page, and each phrase or question is echoed beautifully by the colorful and mesmerizing Jinshan Peasant Paintings. As described in the book, these paintings were first painted by older women skilled in various folk arts that had been passed down through generations in Jinshan County near Shanghai, China. The primitive looking paintings, in which tempera paint is mixed with chalk, are simple, bright and childlike, each depiction carefully telling its own story.

We See the Moon is a book to be shared, to open conversations, and to delicately unfold the questions that many adoptees secretly hold. By creating this beautiful book, Kitze has confirmed for all of us that although the journey to our past feels lonely, it can be shared with loved ones. Her carefully chosen questions and phrases may evoke memories or for others, lead to more unanswered questions.

This review first appeared in Korean Quarterly, Winter 2003/2004 www.koreanquarterly.org

Adopted children crave connection with the birth parents, much like a starving man craves food. This doesn't mean that the adoptee loves the adoptive parent any less--it is an inborn, innate need. Carrie provides a way for the adopted child to feel that much-needed sense of connection with the birth family. She has seen adoption through the eyes of the adopted child--a very rare perspective these days! Thank you, Carrie, from one grateful adoptee.

This lovely book for young adoptees uses simple yet powerful words that shine moonlight on a child's most poignant thoughts and wishes. It is a book that I read aloud to my daughter from China and I was grateful for the words it gave me to open a talk with my daughter about her own feelings. The book's illustrations are vivid and eye-catching and very colorful; there is a lot of expression in both the prose and the paintings of this little book.

This powerful book designed for pre-teen children (adopted from China, other countries or domestically) begins with a poem about the Moon, the refrain of which is "please let the light that shines on me/shine on the one I love.

The author uses the Chinese family festival of the Moon to anchor the illustrations to her text and subtext. This is to enable and empower the adopted child in building a link between her two worlds and families, with the Moon high above becoming the spiritual as well as physical "light that shines on me and the one I love".

Many adoptive families find it hard to choose the right minute for showing their child that it is OK both to feel hurt by and yet still love their birth-family. The book achieves this both by the quality of the illustrations (showing how life IS in China at Moon time) and the easy richness of child-suited sparse but elastic text). Each one-liner of text carries with it questions - and a whole subset of questions which are ready to escape from the initial questions- that the child can ask. Parents and child can read together, read separately, it's of no matter. What matters is that the issue of love and honour of the past is brought into the safety of the adoptive family. For children the word "love" is means connection. The book allows this; and with this foundation the child can later go on to deal with ALL the other powerful emotions that come with losing birthfamily but gaining an adoptive one.

In addition to the text of the book, if that were not enough richness, EMK press presents a free Parent Guide to download from their website. This guide is written by the formidable social worker and writer/presenter of children's therapeutic activities, Jane Brown. Here, Jane underscores from her professional experience the NEED for children to be permitted connections to their past while IN their present family: fail them in this, and the child doesn't grow "whole".

I was personally overwhelmed by the wistful childishness of some of the text .... The child affirms the magic of the moon and wonders if her mother is "looking now?" I loved the positive that the child affirms her happiness in her new family and hopes her first family can sense that.

I loved the Jinshan illustrations. This painting academy specialises in naïve art, so the illustrations are both friendly-foreign, and entirely apt in their childlike perspective, a myopically child-centric view of the world. Here I use myopic, or short-sighted, in the sense that the child is ultra-focused on the aspects of living that matter.

I questioned whether the book would work for all kids, because some children, and I am adoptive mother to two such kids, don't have easy reactions to easy solutions for connections to loss. Was the book appealing to MY need for my children to be happy here, was I ignoring their need to know the harder facts of how they came to be abandoned? Was looking at the connection of love far too simplistic?

So I handed it to "the experts". The book's been tugged-of-war over, it's begged for and they are up looking for the Moon when they should be asleep. My children (aged 3 and 7) took it to their hearts... I am not sure exactly why, but I suspect that my children KNOW books are special. So ,for them, to hear things in a book that make OK hard feelings is "Double Happiness".

This is just one of those books that resounds and displays those essentials for children: symbols which elicit trust and peace in their quest for answers.

And I love it too. The moon is always there, even when it can't be seen. As are my children's connection to their first families.

I got this book from my adopted parents when I was close to five years old. I am almost 30 now and still have this book. Love love love it!

It is so interesting how many adoptees there are on here who are my age and raving about the book. I am 24, and I was adopted as a baby. I grew up reading this book and always understood that I was adopted. This book was SUCH a comfort to me and I would read it over and over. I came on here to buy one for friends who are adopting, in hopes that it will be of comfort to their little one. I definitly recommend this book, it was a great help to me.

I'm 23, my younger sister is 20. We are both adopted from seperate birthparents.
I don't remember not knowing I was adopted. I remember reading this book a lot though. My cousin and I would read it out loud to each other and laugh at the pictures. When my sister was old enough, two or three I think, I started reading it to her. This book is something that will always be a good memory. It helped me understand who I was and what it meant to be adopted.

As an adoptee, I remember reading and re-reading this book many times with my parents. This book was always on my bookshelf and did much to help me understand adoption, babies, family and most importantly the love my parents have for me. Like a reviewer before me, my original copy has been lost, lent with love to another family who had adopted a child. Now I can't wait to pass this on to another family, my friends who have recently adopted their own child. I know reading this book together will help strengthen their bond as she grows.

An earlier review criticized this book's readability and appropriateness for children. As a child who owned it, I do not believe that is an accurate assesment.

As a 25 year old adoptee, I have tremendously strong and positive memories of this book. Like other reviewers here, I can't remember the first time I read it... it was always a part of my reading life as a child.

I adored this book back then. I must have read it quite literally hundreds of times; enough so that at one point my mom had to sew the spine back on.

Once, I brought it to school for show and tell. I used it to show the other kids that I was pretty special, because there were books written about me! It just made me feel that my history as an adoptee was valuable.

I recommend this book to any families with adopted children, absolutely. Of course, open discussion about adoption should first and foremost come from the parents themselves... but as long as that is accomplished, I really believe that many adopted children will cherish this book as much as I did.

This is truly a heartwarming story of bringing hearts and destinies together through perseverance and dedication. The story of Marlee's adoption should be an encouragement for others seeking similar adoptions.

Informative, entertaining and inspirational. I highly recommend Shannon's book to anyone who is considering adoption or anyone who would enjoy a heart-warming story of a Mother's journey through the process of adoption. If you are interested in international adoption, especially the adoption of a child from China, you should read this book.

As a mother of a toddler, I have very little "extra" reading time. This book sat on my nightstand until I found an evening to dive into it. I was amazed at how quick a read it was for the thickness of the book. In just two evenings of reading I shared this author's heartache of infertility and her inspiring determination to have another child. I was awed at how she overcomes a multitude of obstacles in an effort to adopt. With a sense of being a traveling companion along on the journey to China, readers share Shannon and Marlee's intimate first days as mother and daughter. Anyone with a heart for children will laugh and cry at the interaction between Marlee and her best friend Chloe as they cling to the familiar in the face of the unknown. The emotional highs and lows kept me turning pages. I feel as though I have traveled across the world and back on this adoption adventure with the Turners. Like a personal journal that comes to a last entry on the last page, this book leaves the reader wanting to know "what happens tomorrow?..."

I recently finished reading Miracles for Marlee by Shannon G. Turner. What a well written book. If you want to know what it's like to adopt a baby from China, you have to read it. I was fascinated by her creative style of writing, and couldn't put her book down until I was done. If you have adopted before, you will find so many experiences that match your own, you find yourself reliving your adoption. If you have never adopted, you're going to want to! Her quest to get her little girl is inspiring and down to earth. You feel her pain, her frustration, and finally her joy in getting her Marlee. Shannon writes with such a sweet sense of humor, so even though I had tears sliding down my cheeks through most of the book, I loved chuckling with her at the circumstances that surrounded her adoption experience.

Our little girls are going to want to read this book when they grow up, so you have to have this one in your library.

julie w

A beautiful, heart-rendering story of a family's love and desire to bring a daughter into their life. The family's dedication to overcome medical and financial obstcales to achieve their dream of adopting a Chinese orphan is a remarkable journey.

Shannon Turner is united with an angel, Three year old Marlee. Marlee is a delightful girl whose precious love and devotion for Chloe, a fellow orphan being adopted by another family, will indelibly impress the reader with the emotions these girls feel.

Experience the love of this family.

"MY BOUQUET OF KISSES IS A PHENOMONAL STORY. IT TAKES YOU ON SUCH AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER. YOU WILL LAUGH AND CRY FROM YOUR HEART AND FROM YOUR SOUL.
WHILE READING THIS HEART BREAKING STORY, I FELT EVERY BIT OF THE PAIN, DISAPPOINTMENT, DISCRIMINATION, EMBARRASSMENT, FRUSTRATION AND HEARTACHE THE TWINS ENDURED, FROM THE SEXUAL ABUSE AND THE SNATCHING OF THEIR SELF-ESTEEM, TO THE LOYALTY AND LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.
EVERYONE WHO READS "MY BOUQUET OF KISSES" WILL BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THE CHARACTERS OR ONE OF THE TERRIFYING OBSTACLES THE TWINS BRAVELY SURVIVED!!
CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK FROM J. D. ANDERSON! FABULOUS JOB JANICE!!"

How can hope live when everything around you is painful and negative? It took inner strength and the memory of the warm kisses received from an estranged mother.

Adopted when they were babies, Jan and her twin brother Joe lived with a lady they would call, 'Mom'. From the time they could remember, three things reigned supreme: Mom was physically abusive, there was no one to save them, and no one to love them. Around the age of five, a tall African Queen, at least that's how she looked to Jan, visited them, showering them with what Jan called a bouquet of hugs and kisses; their birth mother. But her stay was short-lived, and they were again smothered by the cruelty of Mom. The twins responded differently, Joe retreated into himself and Jan became the protector, but they both feared and hated Mom.

Before their fourteenth birthday, the family relocated from California to Mississippi. Jan hoped desperately that it would be a positive change, but it wasn't really. The one plus from that move is it acquainted the twins with their maternal family. Immediately after graduating high-school Jan enlisted in the Marines and began yet another saga of her tattered life.

MY BOUQUET OF KISSES is a painful account of a woman's struggle to rise above the emotional and physical pain which desperately fought to rule her life. Their childhood was full of secrets, with bits and pieces of truth revealed in underhanded and accidental ways. After over thirty years Jan found some retribution and began to find herself. J.D. Anderson shared this story because writing it was her way of releasing the demons that kept her afraid of life. It vividly captures the suffering of young lives due to human fallacies in programs erected to help innocent children.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

My Bouquet of Kisses is an emotional life story of the struggles and heartbreak of a young girl growing up in an unknown world. Along with her twin brother, the feeling of being loved is all J.D. Anderson ever longed for. This book makes you laugh, cry, and wish you can save her from this life. From the first page to the last, J.D. Anderson pours out her heart to tell her story and the importance of love and forgiveness.

I really enjoyed reading "My Bouquet of Kisses."It was a page turner. Once you start reading it, I promise, it will be hard to put down because you want to know what happened next and pray for the silver lining in Jan's life. She really had a tragic childhood, but she never gave up. Reading this book will make you laugh, make you cry and make you wish you could have been there for her to give her the love and support she needed as a child. I feel this book could possibly make it to the best sellers list if it can get the right sponsors. I met Jan because of this book. She is in deed a beautiful, caring person as she is in her book. I really wish her the best. She deserves a break.

This book was a X-mas gift. From the first page I couldn't put it down. On every page I felt like I was there. I am a father myself and I wanted to reach out to the author and hug her tight. When I got to the end of the book I wanted more but it was the poem that got to me. It shook me. I became emotional. It tied the entire book together. I had never heard of this writer before. I just found out this was her first book. I can't wait for her next. Right now my wife is reading and enjoying it. Everyone should read this book.

I'm enjoying reading as much of Karen KIngsbury's work as I can find, Thanks for the prompt service.

This book as well as the whole Redemption Series is GREAT. I have purchase the next series on the Baxter Family as well as the Sunrise Series (still waiting for book 2). My husband, who never reads a book, started the Redemption Series on vacation and he can't put it down. You have to know my husband to understand how good the Series is.

This is a terrific series! Karen captures your heart with her stories and keeps the focus on the Lord. Outstanding!!!

Loved it....lives up to what I have come to expect of Karen Kingsbury.

Rarely does a book move me to tears but this one did. This book was well written. I though Elizabeth and her family demonstrated great courage during this time of adversity. Not all was sad in the book. I don't want to give too much away for those who haven't read the book yet but you will be pleased at some of the ways God is working miracles in the lives of some of the other Baxter clan. Even though this is the last one in the Redemption series it is not the last we will see of the Baxters. Looking forward to getting glimpse of thier lives in the new series which is centered around the long lost Baxter son Dayne Matthews who we are introduced to in this book.