Category: Relationships,

What Makes A Family?

The story focuses on a/n (adoptive) family with two mothers. Readers searching for stories that include LGBTQ families will appreciate this upbeat and poignant tale. The illustrations include a dazzling array of diversity. Many lend themselves to further exploration of cuisine, language and neighborliness, etc. Although the story is about a family formed through adoption, it doesn’t concentrate on adoption issues, makes no mention of the emotional struggles that adoptees often face nor does it mention birth parents, etc. In Our Mother’s House is a sweet, feel-good book about the wondrous blessing of a loving family. Great book!

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02/02/2015

A Multicultural ABC Adoption Picture Book

From Midwest Book Review: “Truly a multiple-award winning book about the experience of adoption, “ABC, Adoption & Me” breaks new ground in the field of adoption experience integration. Useful for children, families, caretakers, and teachers, “ABC, Adoption & Me” offers positive presentations of

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01/27/2015

Annoyed, Blamed, Cried, Drooled, etc., an ABC of Feelings

An Annoying ABC weaves a delightful “domino” story: each action precipitates a subsequent reaction.  Once “Adelaide annoyed Bailey,” mayhem ensues—in alphabetical order no less! This book hits the mark on several levels. It helps kids expand their vocabulary while enjoying the antics of this delightful cast of characters. An Annoying ABC can assist adoptive parents in teaching their children how to name and handle their big feelings. Imagine your child pretending each feeling and then your guessing which one he is portraying–lots of opportunity to be silly while discussing important emotion-management skills. I rate it a five-star read.

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01/27/2015

Helping Kids Size Themselves Up

Children love to place their hands and feet beside a parent’s limbs and assert that they are almost as big as Mom or Dad. What I love about You Are (Not)Small by Anna Kang is that it taps into this touch point of childhood. With delightful illustrations by Christopher Weyant, it deftly and humorously, highlights that size is relative… He is both little and big!

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01/20/2015

12 Benefits of an Adoption Lifebook

A lifebook says, “Your story begins before adoption and because we love you, we value the history of your life from the beginning. We do not expect or require you to wipe the slate clean in order to embrace our joint life.”

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11/21/2014

10 Great Things about Story Time: Beyond the Simple Page Turn

Books open a window onto a wider world. This allows children to learn how other kids think about and handle their adoption. This introduces them to their adoptive peer group which helps them understand they are not the only one in the adoption “boat.” They also discover that adoption, like families can take many shapes and look quite varied.

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11/10/2014

“Forever Fingerprints”–A Legacy

The wonderful adoption classic, Forever Fingerprints by Sherrie Eldridge is being reissued by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. An adoptee and a staunch advocate for adoptive families writes, who LIVES the adoption journey, Sherrie connects with adoptees’ hearts and validates their experience. Forever Fingerprints, a picture

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10/25/2014

Kids and Adults Face the Power to Choose–A conversation and a Book Review

Children enjoy being able to decide things for themselves. As parents we often make the bulk of the decisions in our children’s lives. Most of us understand that decision making is a skill. Like all skills, mastery only comes through practice. Long before kids become proficient decision makers, they will plod through many errors in judgment. As parents, we face a learning curve too–when is it “safe” for kids to make a choice and when must the decision fall on our shoulders?

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10/21/2014

Why Adoptive Families Should Read “Bullied” by Carrie Goldman

Adoptive families are well aware of the differences that separate us from traditionally formed families. We have experienced the prejudice, the askance looks and the intrusive questions which all broadcast a “lesser than” message and to some extent, have felt bullied by such narrow thinking. We have a vested interest in expanding tolerance, empathy, kindness and the concept of “acceptability.”

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10/12/2014