Children's Adoption Books

I love children's books.  I have loved the excuse of motherhood to check them out of the library for the past 8 years.  I love the beautiful art work and the clever stories.  And my kids love them too.  There are a few books over the years that have forever lodged themselves in my heart - I still cannot get through "I'm a Big Brother" by Joanna Cole  without my voice cracking from emotion.  And I think some day you will find a copy of Good Night Moon and Brown Bear, Brown Bear in my room at the nursing home.

There are so many great books out there, like "I'm a Big Brother", that help prepare siblings for the arrival of their new little brother or sister.  But what about when the new brother or sister is not coming from mommy's belly but instead through adoption?  There are two books that I just love for this.  The first is, The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale by Grace Lin.  It tells the story of a King and Queen who have a pain in their hearts.  A passing peddler gives them special glasses to wear and with these glasses they can see a red thread coming from their chest.  As something on the other end of the thread pulls, their hearts ache.  They take a long, hard journey to follow the thread to a far away land where no one looks like them or speaks the same language.  At the end of the thread they find a little baby.  The story is based on the Chinese proverb:  An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break.


The second book was just given to me by my dear friend Lize and our whole family absolutely loves it,  "Mommy's Heart Went POP!" by Christina Kyllonen and Peter Greer.   

The story begins with a baby in Africa who is left at an orphanage and then follows the Mother as she is waiting to adopt.  My favorite page of the book shows a entryway to a home during each of the four seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer, fall and captures the emotion of waiting while the seasons continue to change.  As the mother waits, her heart grows bigger and bigger and sometimes it feels so big that it hurts.  When she finally holds her baby in Africa, her heart goes POP and all the love comes flooding out.  It is such a beautifully accurate description of what it is like to be an adoptive mama. Kody read it first by himself and decided he liked it so much that we needed to read it that night for our bedtime story.  Halfway through reading it together Tyler said,"Oh I think I know what is going to happen - that mama's baby is going to be the one from the beginning of the book."  I love how he was convinced he had figured out the mystery before the end of the story.  So now we have a Chinese adoption story book and an African adoption story book.  


These books are great for children who have been adopted, for their siblings to better understand what adoption means, for children who have friends who have been adopted.... and they are definitely books that every adoptive mama should have and cherish and choke up over every time they read them.