School’s Out – Time for Summer Reading!

9
Jul

choco1School’s out for summer! The kids are home and it’s finally time to relax for the summer. However, keeping the kids plugged into school activities is a challenge. We have a list of adoption books to help you talk with your kids about adoption or help them better understand their experiences. These books may also assist you in navigating tough subjects in your family when it comes to adoption. While there are many kids’ books about adoption, but we want to give you some of our favorites!

A Mother for Choco, by Keiko Kasza. Throughout the story, a bird searches  for a mother that looks like him. By the end of the book, he finds himself blessed with a mother and siblings that look nothing like him. A Mother for Choco does a great job of depicting that a family is not always about looking the same but is about the love that is shown to them. This is a great book for kiddos in helping them understand what family is all about.

The Best Family in the World, by Susana Lopez and Ulises Wensell. A must read for adoptive families, especially those of older children! In the book, Carlotta, the main character, anxiously awaits the arrival of her new family, meanwhile daydreaming about what they will be like. How nice to find out that they are the best family in the world!

Shaoey And Dot: Bug Meets Bundle, by Mary Beth Chapman. This is a story written from a lady bug’s point of view. It is a heartwarming tale about the adoption story of three little girls from China. A story of hope and faith and is for all families who have been blessed by a “lost bundle of love”.

Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale, by Karen Katz. This is a book about a family who wants to expand their family through adoption. The family is willing to travel any distance to do it. What an ideal book to begin a discussion about adoption with a young child, because it does not discuss the weight and complication of birth parents not being able to care for the child.

Tell Me Again about the Night I was Born, by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. Actress and adoptive mom Jamie Lee Curtis wrote this book in an effort to make a child feel both safe and satisfied. She does this by writing a story about a mom and dad telling their child about the night she was born. This is a great book to introduce adoption for the first time; mostly concentrating on how thrilled the parents were to have the child in their life.

ABC, Adoption & Me, by Gayle H. Swift and Casey Anne Swift. Different types of adoption are explored throughout this book. It can specifically help children that have been brought into a family through adoption see that there are many different ways to built a family. This book gives a children’s view of all sides of adoption and is a great way to open up a family discussion. It also has great multicultural illustrations with a wide range of families represented.

We hope that these books can help families start the discussion of adoption in your family and also educate others on how adoption impacts a family! If you have suggestions for books that would helpful to other families who are adopting or who have adopted.

 

 

 

Brittany Smith works as a full-time Home Study Assistant with MLJ Adoptions. Adoption and orphan care became a passion for her on a mission trip to China with Show Hope, an adoption and orphan care advocacy organization.