ABC, Adoption & Me
My husband and I are waiting to adopt a child from the foster system, so when I saw that Multicultural Children’s Book Day (MCBD) included books about adoption, I knew I had to pick one of them. And as I’m quite busy getting our house ready and working my day job, I wanted a picture book. I was thrilled when I received ABC Adoption & Me from Gayle H. Swift and Casey A. Swift. It looked educational and entertaining. But before I get to the book review I’d like to share more information about MCBD.
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Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/17) is in its fourth year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators.
Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day holiday, the MCBD Team is on a mission to change all of that.
Current Sponsors:
MCBD 2017 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board. Platinum Sponsors include Scholastic, Barefoot Books and Broccoli. Other Medallion Level Sponsors include heavy-hitters like Author Carole P. Roman, Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Fathers Incorporated, KidLitTV, Capstone Young Readers, ChildsPlayUsa, Author Gayle Swift, Wisdom Tales Press, Lee& Low Books, The Pack-n-Go Girls, Live Oak Media, Author Charlotte Riggle, Chronicle Books and Pomelo Books
Author Sponsor include:
Karen Leggett Abouraya, Veronica Appleton, Susan Bernardo, Kathleen Burkinshaw, Delores Connors, Maria Dismondy, D.G. Driver, Geoff Griffin, Savannah Hendricks, Stephen Hodges, Carmen Bernier-Grand,Vahid Imani, Gwen Jackson, Hena, Kahn, David Kelly, Mariana Llanos, Natasha Moulton-Levy, Teddy O’Malley, Stacy McAnulty, Cerece Murphy, Miranda Paul, Annette Pimentel, Greg Ransom, Sandra Richards, Elsa Takaoka, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Sarah Stevenson, Monica Mathis-Stowe SmartChoiceNation, Andrea Y. Wang
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.
MCBD Links to remember :
MCBD site: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday....
Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta
Free Kindness Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday....
Free Diversity Book Lists and Activities for Teachers and Parents: http://bit.ly/1sZ5s8i
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ABC, Adoption & Me by Gayle H. Swift with Casey A. Swift opens with an introduction for adoptive parents guiding them how to best use the book to open discussions with their children. It then moves letter by letter through the alphabet listing encouraging tips. A few of my favorites were:
“D is for dreams. Sometimes I dream about my birth parents and wonder if they look like me.”
“H is for homecoming and heart. Homecoming is the day I joined my adoptive family. My birth family holds a special place in our hearts.”
and
“L is for love. Our family grew together through love.”
My adoption classes emphasized the same concepts that this sweet book outlines. I highly recommend this book for adoptive parents. Young children will enjoy reading it with you and it is a good reminder to look at this process from the child’s perspective. After all, they are the ones who have lost their birth parents and other relatives, but over time, will love their new family as well. Foster parents may find that with some adjustments to the conversation, that this book could also be helpful for them.
Editorial Reviews found on the book’s Amazon Page include the following:
“ABC, Adoption & Me” breaks new ground in the field of adoption experience integration. Useful for children, families, caretakers, and teachers … uses bright cartoon illustrations to present interracial adoptive families and origin birth families with equal validity and authenticity, as well as many other adoption sensitive issues and topics. “ABC, Adoption & Me” deserves every single one of its many awards and should be a part of every child’s library.” Midwest Book Review
“This collaboration between an adoptive mother and her daughter tackles weighty topics. “What I love about this book is how it touches on many aspects of adoption that could be difficult to talk about, but not in a threatening or forceful way. It can be used over and over again as children grow” –Adopted Families Magazine the award-winning national adoption magazine, the leading adoption information source for families before, during, and after adoption.
Also found on ABC, Adoption & Me’s Amazon page, Ms. Swift discusses her motivation for writing the book with her daughter.
ABC,Adoption & Me Activity
Older children may enjoy this word search using the ABC, Adoption and Me words created using the Discovery Education website here.
Adoption Birthdays Children
Dreams Excited Family
Group Homecoming International
Judge Kisses Love
Miss Nice Open
Parents Questions Real
Shapes and Sizes Trust Understand Visit Wish XForHugs
You ZigZag
Parents, you may want to connect with Ms. Swift using the following Social Media platforms.
Pinterest (GIFT)
Website (GIFT)
Facebook (GIFT)
[image error]An adoptive mother of two now-adult children and a former foster parent, Gayle H. Swift is also a certified coach, co-founder of GIFT (Growing Intentional Families Together–which provides family coaching before, during and after adoption, a former teacher, and former newsletter editor. A staunch adoptee-rights activist, Gayle has presented at the NACAC (North American Council on Adoptable Children) Conference and is available to speak. She believes in the power of books to inform, heal, and create community.
Gayle is also fifty-year survivor of ovarian cancer, she values the blessing of family relationships. Gayle has zip-lined in Costa Rica, paraglided in Peru, hiked to the Sun Gate above the citadel of Machu Picchu, and trekked the Mendenhall glacier in Alaska but parenting proved to be the greatest adventure of her life.
She collaborated on ABC, Adoption & Me, with her daughter Casey A. Swift (an adoptee, media specialist and former teacher) and trusts that it will support adoptees and the families who love them. ABC, Adoption & Me was named one of 12 notable picture books for 2013 by Shelf Unbound , a Favorite Read of 2013 by Adoptive Families, (the award-winning national adoption magazine,)received an Honorable Mention – Gittle List of 2014; Finalist; IPNE 2014 Book Awards (Independent Publishers of New England), Honorable Mention 2014 Purple Dragonfly Book Award. 2015 Reader’s Favorite Award Honorable Mention
Gayle has won six Royal Palm Literary Awards.
Member of IPNE, FWA, SCBWI
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