Adoption Books

Ten Puppies is a delightful counting book--but so much more! While grouping the dogs for counting, the words and illustrations also can be used to introduce and teach color, shape, size and texture. Underlying the story is the concept of differences and similarities --all the puppies are different, but all can be grouped alike if viewed through a certain lens. It is a book that can be used to teach tolerance and show that the sameness of the puppy is in the eye of the beholder. What a wonderful lesson. I can envision children exhuberantly making their own changing groupings from their similarities and differences . Hooray for Reiser.

This is a very true story with facts to back it up. I know as i am the grandma of the baby boy in how this book came about.

If you want to adopt a baby, this is the book you need, covering where are the infants who need parents, how much it costs to adopt, how to use the Internet (and what to watch out for), what you need to know about foreign and domestic adoption, what's the home study like, and much more. Very practical and very hands-on advice!

This content of this book is just what I was looking for!! The book itself is pretty -- the only downside is that the pages aren't as cute as a Hallmark generic baby book, for example. (Oh, another downside is that the pages don't easily stay open by themselves, since it is post-bound.) But they're fine & the content is what is so great! It's a post-bound book, so the pages can be changed around & even removed. You can also order a pack of extra blank lined pages.

I have typed out the page headers to help others know what this is like. On each page, there are usually a few more specific subheaders followed by blank lines. Then the back of each page is all just blank lines.

Page Headers:
my family
tell me about the first time you met me
tell me about Russia my native country (with a long preprinted description & a map)
tell me about our visits in the baby house
tell me about our visits in the maternity hospital
tell me about our visits in the orphanage
tell me your favorite things about my native country
tell me about the journey you took to find me
citizenship ceremony
why did you choose to adopt from my native country?
preparations for me
on the day i came home to stay
my name - how did you choose my name?
my family tree
my birth family tree
tell me about my placement ceremony
tell me about my adoption finalization ceremony
tell me about my heritage
welcome home - gifts and visits
on the day and year i was born
cherished firsts
my firsts with my family
all about my first year
the adoption ceremony
important people in my life
outings and vacations
activities outside home and school
my religion
my favorite things
why did you adopt me?
information about my birth
why don't i live with my birth parents?
things i may need to know when i get older
information about my birth family
places i lived / foster families
foster family information
first birthday (half a page for each birthday through 18)
pre-school memories (half a page for each school year through 12th grade)
medical information
health information about my birth parents
immunization record
allergies
dental health
specialized assessments
childhood illnesses
2 clear photo pages
1 large white envelope

This book is a must for anyone interested in adopting a child from another country. While it is about a specific adoption -- an Irish couple adopting a child from Romania -- the issues faced are universal. the writer captures the emotional traumas involved in adoption and places them within a wider context.

Finally, a book for the child who wants to fit in. The heroine deals with the same issues that all middle school age students, especially girls, struggle with - too fat, too dark, too whatever. Addressing those concerns would be enough, but there is more - a wonderful twist that will keep the reader interested. Historically accurate with a web page for the interested reader, Time Will Tell is the perfect book for the contemporary middle-schooler.

I read this book shortly after I placed my son for adoption in 1998. It allowed me, through real stories, to actually relax a bit from the harrowing process and grieve. I was most touched by the story that described the total quiet of coming home, and the pain of accepting a kindness from a stranger.

I was 38. I have had depression of different levels since I was 13, and I had lost my last job due to it. I still thought I could be a good mother --because I have a great capacity to love--and have support from human services, etc. to get back on my feet, in spite of knowing the father was (is) really a sociopath. (My low self-esteem, and wanting to be paid attention to, had led me to be "charmed"--as in snake--by him.) But I knew the second day I was home with my baby that I could not give him a good life in any way. I am proud I was able to be realistic about that and make the adoption plan. I am in a very open adoption and am glad to do the hard work to make it work--always for the best of the child--for the joy we have all found. This book, along with two important books on open adoption, started me on my way.

This book is a fine one to have in one's library for three reasons:
1. It treats the effects of adoption equally on the three family members who lose one another: the mother, the father and the individual who is adopted. It makes the parallels between the three family members very clearly.
2. It gathers together a great deal of information on adoption effects from a variety of sources, and offers opinions and information on a wide variety of adoption-related issues and topics.
3. It is well written.

This book will be of use to all who have an honest and serious interest in the effects of adoption on all members of the natural family. Because of its balanced viewpoint, it is particularly appropriate for prospective adopters, social workers and other adoption facilitators. They should understand that adoption is not a happy event for any members of the natural family.

Many of the essays are suitable as short pieces to offer to others in discussions about particular aspects of adoption's effects. All the essays are thoughtful and considered. They express sometimes terrible truths in calm language, and thus may have more effect on those who don't want to hear than some more radical treatments of the same topics may have. This is an excellent addition to the literature on the effects of adoption.

This book has surprising depth and sensitivity, considering its "ripped from the headlines" topic--a refugee kid who gets adopted by Hollywood types. It gives a kid's eye view of Hollywood lives, while at the same time exploring family dynamics and the universal adolescent question of "do these parents REALLY belong to me?" Well-written with believable and sympathetic characters, it's a book with a lot of heart. I also highly recommend Atinsky's first book, Tyler on Prime Time

Turns on a Dime is one of the most interesting and wonderfulbooks I've read. Being a reader of Young Adult books, I rarely find abook that combines a true to life story and a page-turning plot. This is one of these books. Relating adolesence, mystery, and romance, Turns on a Dime is at its best. Great work Julie Lawson!