Adoption Books

Very detailed story about an adoption journey from the begining to the end and all the ups and downs in between. A must read for anyone interested in adoption. I couldn't put it down till I finished it.

THis book should be a best seller. I would highly recommend

Zoya's mom is going away, but she leaves with the soul-felt promise to return in seven days time. Yet 12-year-old Zoya feels terribly uneasy that she will never see her mom again. Her fears stem from being abandoned at the age of four in a Russian orphanage. But ever since Zoya's adoption, her new mom has filled Zoya's life with an unconditional love and a colorful laughter that have far overshadowed the nightmares from her sad beginnings. Until now.

Zoya's mom asks an old friend by the name of Leon to stay with Zoya while she's away. This doesn't help Zoya's uneasiness any. She doesn't know him, and she doesn't want him trying to take her mother's place. But he moves right in, sleeping in her mother's bed, attempting to make breakfast and walking her to school whether Zoya likes it or not. Zoya just wants her mom back.

Before she leaves, Zoya's mom gives her a diary to help ease their time apart. The diary also may help Zoya recall her past in order to start healing from her fears of abandonment. She doesn't remember a lot from before the adoption, just flashes mostly. And she recalls a plaid suitcase, the same plaid suitcase that is stored on the top shelf of the closet, and could possibly contain information about her past. But is Zoya ready to remember?

The seven days until the promised return pass painfully slowly, and Zoya fills the darkest, loneliest hours of the night by filling the pages of her diary with her darkest, loneliest fears. Zoya plows through the rest of the time by stumbling upon little adventures, like discovering who's been crying down in the apartment building's basement, and learning to assist the not-so-terrible-after-all Leon with his magic act.

This sensitive tale gently pulls the reader through its pages, tugging on every emotion the entire way. Laura Shaine Cunningham does a superb job conveying Zoya's pains and fears to where readers will feel each crack in Zoya's heart and every tear slip down her cheek. This excellent book will be enjoyed by people of all ages!

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author

This is a heartwarming story of a Russian adoption. The writing engages you in the emotional joys and angst of the adoption process. A real page-turner and a wonder to read.

I loved it, as did my kids. If he ever tires of practicing law, John Medler could (and should) become a full-time children's author. That'll do...

Sweet and innocent way to introduce adoption to a child while giving families the incentive to celebrate their own personal special moments.

I had to review this book because I own it and the reviews are just wrong. My children are both adopted, and this book is by far their favorite as far as explaining it to them. It's honest, coming from the perspective that a birth mother might really want to parent her child, but the insurmountable pressures against her just might make that job impossible. I loved how much time was spent with the birth mother and her struggles to keep her child. She does the most unselfish thing in letting another family raise her child because it's what's best for him. My son loves this book, and he chose to do it as a book project for school so he could explain adoption to his friends. I think the bird analogy works great, kids are smart and they understand what this book is saying to them. Anyone who has adopted in a situation where the birth parents were trying but were just unable to raise their child, should have this book in their child's library.

By the time I finished reading this book -- memoir and essay intertwined -- I was electrified by the understanding, against the current of our current obsession with DNA, that the most powerful bonds between people are not biological. David Jones reveals that we must "adopt" even our own children, making a conscious commitment to them; that marriage is mutual adoption; that the United States is an adoptive nation, and that's what's so great about it; and that Christianity is a religion of adoption -- of one another as brothers/sisters -- and that's what's so great about it. This book has affirmed the sense I share with so many people that my dearest friends are quite literally as much "family" as my family, that those willingly forged, life-lasting bonds aren't "like" kinship, they are kinship. Jones tells the story of an unrelated older man whom he and his wife and kids adopted into their home, to be part of the family until (and beyond) death.

You may think the one person Jones has left out of the equation is his unknown birth mother. But towards the end, she too (though absent) enters into the story, and the family, in the most unexpected and poignant way. At this point, readers of My Father's House generally burst into tears.

Please read this wonderful book. It will change the way you look at just about everything. Not least, it is a much needed restorative of balance to an adoption debate overwhelmingly dominated by biologism. It will arm the conflicted adopted, seduced by the siren song of DNA at normal developmental rough spots in their lives, with the missing concept that will support that strand in their tangled feelings that recognizes their adoptive parents as their real parents.

I am biased because I am the author of this book. I wrote this novel as a tribute of my love to my kids. The story is very close to real life, except for all the violent parts.

A wonderful story of the author's journey from adopted child to adoptive parent. I found myself laughing one minute and misty-eyed the next. As the spouse of an adopted man, I now understand better some of the insights he has shared with me over the years. This book is a must read for anyone who has been adopted, is thinking of adopting or just wants to gain a loving insight into the challenges, emotions and feelings associated with the world of adoption.