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Pushing up the Sky: A Mother's Story
"Terra Trevor's Pushing up the Sky, is a revelation of the struggles and triumphs packed into the hyphens between Korean and Native American and American. From her, we learn that adoption can best be mutual, that the adoptive parent needs acculturation in the child’s ways. With unflinching honesty and unfailing love, Trevor details the risks and heartaches of taking in, the bittersweetness of letting go, and the everlasting bonds that grow between them all. With ‘Pushing up the Sky’, the ‘literature of adoption’ comes of age as literature, worthy of an honored place in the human story."
—Robert Bensen, editor of Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education
"Trevor, a mixed-blood American Indian, and her white husband, had one child before choosing to add more children to their family through foster care and adoption. They adopted twice: an infant with special medical needs from South Korea, and an older child. There are two stories in Trevor’s personal account. The first is about her oldest child experiencing difficulty adjusting from foster care to adoption. The second story is about her son, also adopted from Korea, diagnosed with a brain tumor, and how this family, or any family, must endure crises and tragedy and still find a way to go on. This is a story of compromises, insights, profound joy, deep suffering, and terrific rewards. Most of all, it's a story on the meaning of family, learning to let go of expectations and forge a new identity. The title ‘Pushing up the Sky,’ is from a traditional story from the Snohomish tribe, about the power of communities and people working together for a common good, this is the theme in Trevor's memoir."
—Bill Drucker, Korean Quarterly
Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network; First Edition (July 29, 2006)
New eBook Edition (July 24, 2024)
Available on the author's website
Complements of Terra Trevor
—Robert Bensen, editor of Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education
"Trevor, a mixed-blood American Indian, and her white husband, had one child before choosing to add more children to their family through foster care and adoption. They adopted twice: an infant with special medical needs from South Korea, and an older child. There are two stories in Trevor’s personal account. The first is about her oldest child experiencing difficulty adjusting from foster care to adoption. The second story is about her son, also adopted from Korea, diagnosed with a brain tumor, and how this family, or any family, must endure crises and tragedy and still find a way to go on. This is a story of compromises, insights, profound joy, deep suffering, and terrific rewards. Most of all, it's a story on the meaning of family, learning to let go of expectations and forge a new identity. The title ‘Pushing up the Sky,’ is from a traditional story from the Snohomish tribe, about the power of communities and people working together for a common good, this is the theme in Trevor's memoir."
—Bill Drucker, Korean Quarterly
Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network; First Edition (July 29, 2006)
New eBook Edition (July 24, 2024)
Available on the author's website
Complements of Terra Trevor
230 pages, Hardcover
First published July 29, 2006
351 people want to read
About the author
Terra Trevor
2 books34 followersTerra Trevor is the author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways (University of Nebraska Press), and Pushing up the Sky (KAAN). She is a contributor to Mixed Roots: Writers on Multiracial Identity & Both/And Belonging (Beacon Press), Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits (University of New Mexico Press), Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education (The University of Arizona Press), The People Who Stayed: Southeastern Indian Writing After Removal (University of Oklahoma Press), and Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging (University of Nebraska Press).
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 22, 2015
I was very grateful to receive a free copy of this book. At first, I was skeptical to read about a true story. However, I could not put this book down. Even though I have never adopted a child, I've raised my stepson since he was three. I love him just as much as my other biological children, and if anything ever happened, it would be devastating. My heart goes out to the Trevor family. The way you told your story was heartfelt and sincere, and I wish Terra Trevor and her family the best.
January 22, 2014
This is actually a 5-star book for me, but perhaps a 3-star one for the general public. It is a memoir by a mother, a story of both international special needs adoption, and of losing a child to cancer. Both are subjects I know a great deal about, and this book rings true on every front. Ms. Trevor's heart is open in this book and she speaks true words.
This book was written early in the author's writing career, so is not as polished as some. However Ms. Trevor's imagery is beautiful, strongly rooted in Nature. Her use of earth and sky imagery is perhaps a reflection of her own Native American cultural heritage. As one who is also nature-centered in my heart, her words spoke clearly to me.
This book was written early in the author's writing career, so is not as polished as some. However Ms. Trevor's imagery is beautiful, strongly rooted in Nature. Her use of earth and sky imagery is perhaps a reflection of her own Native American cultural heritage. As one who is also nature-centered in my heart, her words spoke clearly to me.
April 15, 2010
This book gives an honest and raw portrait of 1 mom's experience with transracial adoption...but it is about so much more than that. Reading this book was a life changing experience for me.
February 13, 2026
There are several lines and scenes in this affecting memoir that have taken up permanent residence in my head, and this is one of them: "Why do you suppose when a person dies from cancer they say he lost the battle?" asks 15-year-old Jay Trevor of his mother Terra. "Dying is not about losing," he reasons, because "Heaven is filled with winners."
May we infer from that pearl of wisdom that the Trevor family has embraced the so-called gospel of prosperity? No, we may not. The forward by a family friend is more polemical than anything Terra herself says (that forward may be the only glaring flaw in the book), and you can hear the smile in Terra's syntax when she confesses that some Sunday mornings found the Trevors "in the Lord's mountain house or camping on his beachfront property" rather than at formal worship.
The Korean church in which they eventually find fellowship attracts them partly because its pastor is diplomatic about his religious "preferences," and the discerning reader may recognize that a more doctrinaire author would have called such beliefs "convictions," because "preference" is a word better suited for questions like "one ply or two?"
That, however, is a quibble. The point is that Terra and her family respect the cultures that mark their lives without fetishizing any of them. Although questions of identity (Korean, Native American, and familial) suffuse the text like alpenglow on the Santa Lucia mountains, there are only two things in this book about which Terra and her kin are dogmatic: one of them is love, and the other is perseverance. That emphasis combines with Terra's clear-eyed humility to make this book great, placing it firmly in the ranks of worthwhile literature about adoption, loss, and redemption.
If you're going to tackle big themes on a small canvas, it helps to have Terra's straightforward writing style and eye for detail. I like her description of how newly-adopted daughter Kyeong Sook dries dishes by twisting the dishcloth "in a decidedly foreign spiral." Animals are sharply observed, too. When a red-tailed hawk or a raccoon goes anywhere near her yard, Terra notices.
Some authors are seduced by the dramatic potential of things like racism, terminal illness, and family therapy. Not Terra. Her understatement may be due as much to personality as to craft: one thing she shares with her readers is that deep-seated panic sometimes makes her outwardly calm.
Although the binding of this first edition will not stand up to hard usage, "Pushing Up the Sky" is not a vanity project for the grandchildren; it's a story of hard-won hope touched by mortality, ancestral memory, and the reverberations of international adoption, not least among them Seaweed Soup and Beef Bulgogi. The book reads like a string quintet, with members of the Trevor family taking turns on various instruments. It opens with almost Beethovenian drama, meets joy and grief head on, and closes with the wistfulness of a Korean folk song.
Have I said plainly enough that you should read this book? Terra, Gary, Kyeong Sook, Vanessa, and Jay are worth meeting, and "Pushing Up the Sky" is the next best thing to inviting them over, written by a mother whose art never eclipses her heart and soul.
May we infer from that pearl of wisdom that the Trevor family has embraced the so-called gospel of prosperity? No, we may not. The forward by a family friend is more polemical than anything Terra herself says (that forward may be the only glaring flaw in the book), and you can hear the smile in Terra's syntax when she confesses that some Sunday mornings found the Trevors "in the Lord's mountain house or camping on his beachfront property" rather than at formal worship.
The Korean church in which they eventually find fellowship attracts them partly because its pastor is diplomatic about his religious "preferences," and the discerning reader may recognize that a more doctrinaire author would have called such beliefs "convictions," because "preference" is a word better suited for questions like "one ply or two?"
That, however, is a quibble. The point is that Terra and her family respect the cultures that mark their lives without fetishizing any of them. Although questions of identity (Korean, Native American, and familial) suffuse the text like alpenglow on the Santa Lucia mountains, there are only two things in this book about which Terra and her kin are dogmatic: one of them is love, and the other is perseverance. That emphasis combines with Terra's clear-eyed humility to make this book great, placing it firmly in the ranks of worthwhile literature about adoption, loss, and redemption.
If you're going to tackle big themes on a small canvas, it helps to have Terra's straightforward writing style and eye for detail. I like her description of how newly-adopted daughter Kyeong Sook dries dishes by twisting the dishcloth "in a decidedly foreign spiral." Animals are sharply observed, too. When a red-tailed hawk or a raccoon goes anywhere near her yard, Terra notices.
Some authors are seduced by the dramatic potential of things like racism, terminal illness, and family therapy. Not Terra. Her understatement may be due as much to personality as to craft: one thing she shares with her readers is that deep-seated panic sometimes makes her outwardly calm.
Although the binding of this first edition will not stand up to hard usage, "Pushing Up the Sky" is not a vanity project for the grandchildren; it's a story of hard-won hope touched by mortality, ancestral memory, and the reverberations of international adoption, not least among them Seaweed Soup and Beef Bulgogi. The book reads like a string quintet, with members of the Trevor family taking turns on various instruments. It opens with almost Beethovenian drama, meets joy and grief head on, and closes with the wistfulness of a Korean folk song.
Have I said plainly enough that you should read this book? Terra, Gary, Kyeong Sook, Vanessa, and Jay are worth meeting, and "Pushing Up the Sky" is the next best thing to inviting them over, written by a mother whose art never eclipses her heart and soul.
June 10, 2013
Written with abundant love, this is an honest account of the challenges of integrating an older child into an established family. It is also about building community with Korean American culture. And finally, the book becomes a journey about facing end of life. The author's sensibilities toward the natural world and all that really matters in the lives of her children put her on the level of a great teacher of the capacities of the human heart. As a Native American, Trevor brings a new voice to the topic of transracial adoption. Sad but triumphant, ‘Pushing up the Sky’ deserves a wide readership for its great story-telling and lyrical use of language.
September 9, 2016
Pushing up the Sky recounts the story of one family’s journey into the world of adopting unwanted Korean children. An American Indian woman, her Caucasian husband, and their young daughter first welcome a Korean baby boy into the family, and then a few years later a ten-year-old Korean girl. The challenge of the multiracial family they created is huge, but is nothing compared to the emotional roller coaster of daily rejection and the raw grief of deadly cancer. This book will tug at your heartstrings. It will make you laugh, cry, and marvel at the strength Terra Trevor had to have to endure not only the joy, but the unparalleled pain of motherhood.
January 28, 2014
In Pushing Up the Sky, Terra Trevor gives a personal and insightful account of the joys and challenges inherent in trans-racial adoptions. She also shares the personal growth she found in an unexpected loss and difficult family relationships. I was deeply moved by her sensitivity to her children's struggles for identity. I was incredibly proud of how she supported them. In revealing her emotional responses to traumatic experiences, she brings us closer to each other. And in that process, makes a tremendous contribution to all of us. I highly recommend this book.
August 9, 2011
This is an incredible book, written from the heart of the author. Terra Trevor does an impeccable job bringing the reader into her life, including the challenges of adopting an older child and the heart-rending loss of her son. She is an amazing author who opens her heart and allows readers to really experience her perspective. Trevor is a regular contributor to Adoption Today (www.adoptinfo.net).
May 8, 2012
I was so lost in this book that I read it in one night. I laughed, cried and fell in love with everyone in this memoir. It's a story that is bound to touch the heart of anyone who reads it. This book was given to me as a gift, and I have been giving it as a gift to others since then. This is a good vacation or beach book, although you should be warned... you'll probably cry in public a bit, if you read it on the beach. Although this story is very emotional in parts, it is ultimately uplifting.
August 24, 2015
A wonderful true story about Terra raising her three children. Two of which were adopted from Korea. It was very difficult raising the children but, they lead such a full, simple, loving life. Full of peace through out the book. I loved this book and the story that Terra wanted to share with all of us.
I won this book on Goodreads
I won this book on Goodreads
July 23, 2023
I just loved reading this deeply engrossing memoir about motherhood. I too have experienced love and loss and Terra's writing is so insightful and thought-provoking that I was able to process many of the feelings that I have only now in a new and deeper way. I am so grateful to Terra for sharing her family's story with her readers.
August 5, 2011
Heartfelt, eloquent and insightful.
June 7, 2012
Beautifully written and full of love.
July 5, 2024
New ebook Edition (available on my website)
https://www.terratrevorauthor.com/p/p...
My memoir, Pushing up the Sky, was originally published in 2006. It was my first book. In the years since I have learned a great many writing and motherhood lessons, which have allowed me to become a better writer and a better mother and grandmother. Within these pages I offer my humble beginnings.
If I could be granted one wish I would ask not for rave reviews, only that this book might change a million hearts, and that it will be read for more decades, beyond my lifetime.
While I will never know how many people have been touched, and perhaps changed, I do know that it has been passed steadily from the hands of many readers because I have received hundreds of emails with kind words.
May this eBook version of Pushing up the Sky, be another step along that road.
https://www.terratrevorauthor.com/p/p...
My memoir, Pushing up the Sky, was originally published in 2006. It was my first book. In the years since I have learned a great many writing and motherhood lessons, which have allowed me to become a better writer and a better mother and grandmother. Within these pages I offer my humble beginnings.
If I could be granted one wish I would ask not for rave reviews, only that this book might change a million hearts, and that it will be read for more decades, beyond my lifetime.
While I will never know how many people have been touched, and perhaps changed, I do know that it has been passed steadily from the hands of many readers because I have received hundreds of emails with kind words.
May this eBook version of Pushing up the Sky, be another step along that road.
July 16, 2011
This adoption/family memoir was honest and brave, but it was also poorly written to the point that it was hard to read. I admire the author's love for her children's culture, her devotion to them, and her proactivity in making the whole family a part of the Korean-American culture around them. I admire the brave and insightful trip the author and her eldest daughter took to Korea. But the writing was hard to get past.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews