Kids' Books

It’s important to talk to children about adoption right from the get-go; that way, adoption is never a secret from them, and they’re never surprised to find out they’re adopted. There are lots of great kids’ books about adoption which help make adoption understandable to kids.  Here are some good ones for starting your collection:

Updated: 4/20/2016

Bottom-Shelf Books

Bottom-Shelf Books are my top choices.

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza is a delightful book about a little bird who tries to find its mother. Choco asks several animals who look somewhat similar to Choco whether they are Choco’s mother. None of the animals are. Finally, Choco sees a bear who behaves as a mother would, although the bear does not look like the bird. The bird accepts the bear as his mother, and meets the rest of the bear’s family, comprised of a baby alligator, hippopotamus, and pig.

Adoption Message: Your mother is the one who cares for you, regardless of whether she looks like you.

Recommended For: Adoptive children, especially in transracial or cross-cultural families.

How I Was Adopted by Joanna Cole is a book which caters to children through the use of short sentences, friendly illustrations, and open-ended questions which invite children to respond to the adult reading the story. After a brief introduction wisely advising parents how to share their child’s adoption story with their child, we meet Sam. Sam recites her adoption story, and says that she loves to hear her adoptive parents tell it.

Adoption Message: Every adopted child has their own story. Some of who they are comes from their birth family and some of who they are comes from their adoptive family. Adoption is a story to be celebrated.

Recommended For: Adopted children, between ages 2 and 6; including those adopted as infants.

 A Forever Family by Roslyn Banish with Jennifer Jordan-Wong, is a wonderful story told by an eight-year-old child (Jennifer) who was adopted at age seven. Jennifer gives a brief summary of her experience in foster care, her experience of adoption, and her life in general. Rosalyn Banish, a professional photographer, compliments Jennifer’s narration with black-and-white photographs.

Adoption Message: Adoption from foster care creates a new family. It takes some getting used to, but it is a happy change, and life goes on. Children who are adopted still may have questions about their birth parents.

Recommended For: Prospective and current foster and adoptive parents and children. This is a quick read which may help normalize foster care and adoption from a child’s point of view.

We Belong Together by Todd Parr

 

 

 

 

Other Recommended Kids' Books 

(The underlined titles of the books link to my reviews.)

   Mary Scary

Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back

 Impatient Pamela Wants a Bigger Family

     The Red Thread











Pinky and Rex and the New Baby

 The Coffee Can Kid

We Wanted You

 The Best Single Mom in the World








 Happy Adoption Day
















Our Wish for a Baby (Embryo Adoption)

 My New Family

 The White Swan Express

 I Love You Like Crazy Cakes 

 You’re Not My Real Mother 

A New Barker in the House by Tomie dePaola is a child-friendly book with short sentences and large illustrations. A family with two young children adopts another young child, from a different country. The two children daydream about what they will do with their adopted brother. They are excited when he arrives, and try to play with him. They learn that their new adopted brother is not a toy, and learn to play his games as well as their own. They learn each others’ languages, and end by calling themselves “family.”

Adoption Message: Adopted children and the families into which they are adopted will have some differences. Adopted children are not toys. Families can learn from their adopted children, and adopted children               

can learn from their families.

                                         Recommended for: Children, up to age 9, of families who wish to
                                          adopt, prior to an adoptive child placement.

Tell Me a Real Adoption Story by Betty Jean Lifton tells the story of an adopted child who asks her adoptive parent to tell her a “real” adoption story. As parents are wont to do, the parent responds with a fairy tale about adoption. The child refuses to accept the story. The child demands and receives a “real” story from the adoptive parent, explaining the meeting between adoptive and birth parents. The child accepts the story.

Adoption Message: This book encourages adoptive parents to share the “real” story of adoption with their adopted children. The book cautions that time can make it difficult to track down the child’s pre-adoptive history and encourages adoptive parents to allow the child’s story to grow.
                                                Recommended For: Prospective adoptive parents.

 The Family Book  by Todd Parr is a brightly-illustrated book. It shows many different types of families: single-parent, blended, same-sex parents, adopted, multiracial – and asserts that all families love each other and help each other.

Adoption Message: Every family is unique, and every family is special.

Recommended for: Young kids who have been adopted. Age 2-4.

   Gabrielle and Samantha's New Mom by Pauline Rose Moore

  Jazzy's Quest: Adopted and Amazing by Carrie Goldman and Juliet Bond