[suse151]

We have a bio daughter who is 4 1/2 and are starting the international adoption process. Does anyone know of any good children's books we could read to her that might explain adoption? And, as a matter of fact, are their any good articles/reading for grandparents who might be a little (or a lot)worried about us going the international route?!? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Susan

[emjay]

Hi from another mom to a bio daughter (age 3 1/2). We found some great books for siblings of adoption to explain the process to her - recommended from friends who adopted from China:

"Seeds of Love" by Mary Petertyl
"Things Little Kids Need to Know" by Susan Uhlig
"My Special Someone: A Child's Perspective of Adoption" by Brittany & Sherry Kyle

Our daughter loves "Seeds of Love". It's about a little girl whose parents are adopting internationally - they travel without the little girl to bring home a baby girl, so the book also deals with separation while parents travel. It never mentions what country the baby is from. We are adopting a boy, so we just read "baby boy" into the story and it works fine. Our daughter now "reads" it to herself because she knows it by heart, and tells everyone that she's adopting a baby brother from Russia. The book really helped her understand that we'll be "having a baby" differently.

"Things..." is also very cute - about a little boy telling all the things he will "teach" his new sibling. I liked that the two books dealt with different aspects of adoption for the sibling-to-be!

"My Special Someone" is written by a 6-year-old who describes the process of adopting her baby sister from a kid's point of view. We don't have that one, though.

I bought the two I have online. Good luck!

- Maura

[emjay]

Boy, this underlining/link stuff in posts is annoying...don't know why all that gobble-dee-gook got added. The third book is called "My Special Someone, a child's perspective of Adoption" by Brittany & Sherry Kyle.

[britfish]

Tell me again about the night I was born by Jamie Lee Curtis is a great book. It is a small board book and is for a young child, my niece is 4 and it is her favorite book. Over the Moon is good too, but the other one is by far my favorite!

[Dobby]

We really like "A Mother for Choco" by Keiko Kasza. It's more of a basic story explaining how your mother doesn't have to look like you to be your mother. It brings me to tears every time I read it. It never explains what happened to Choco's parents, but he keeps turning down other animals because they don't look like him. Eventually Mother Bear invites him over during his search, and he realizes that she is so nice to him, SHE could be his mother; and then meets all his siblings (a crocodile, elephant, rhino, etc.). I like it although it doesn't explain the process necessarily.

[arewethereyet]

My favorite adoption book for children is "Amy Angel Goes Home". It is a book that I plan to read to my daughter over and over!

[gabsdot]

Theres a very good book called 'What do we think about adoption'. It's published in the UK by BAAF. I'm sure you could get in on Amazon.co.uk in the states. I bought it for my neices and nephews to help prepare them for the arrival of their adopted cousin.

[DaniJ]

Thank you for asking this question... I was faced with the same situation, except my bio-son is a year younger. I'll make notes of everyones answers and look them up next time we go to Phoenix. We couldn't find too much in our "small-town" library in Boise, but we did find a nice one called When Joel Comes Home by Susi Gregg Fowler, about the day they pick the baby up at the airport (child has fantasies about what it will be like: flowers, banner, wonderful, but reality is another thing: late, rain, hurry, crowds, etc.). I can't find the other one we liked.
I just explained the situation to the librarians and it took three of them about 15 min of looking to find three books for us (glad I asked or I'd have been there all day!)

[AMom2Two]

My daughters favorite book is called "A Blessing From Above" by Patti Henderson. It's about a kangaroo that has an empty pouch. It's very cute. I'm not sure this is the type of book you are looking for, but just wanted to share it with everyone here anyways. My daughter is 3 and I have to read this book to her every night. She laughs about it.

[knicholson]

Thank you too for all who have responded as we also have a 4 1/2 year old Bio Daughter also asking many tender questions and I too have been hoping to find children's books that help guide conversations. We are hoping to travel to Eastern Russia in late October. God bless!