Adoption and After Adoption discussion

I was raised by a dad who loved to read and a mom who read out loud to me on a regular basis. Since my husband and I can't have our own children, we are applying for adoption, and one of the things that is important to me is to have good books in our home that will reinforce our children's self-worth, especially in the issue of their having been adopted.

If you know of any children's or young adult fiction that expresses a positive portrayal of adoption, please add it to the list I've created:

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/62...

Thanks so much for your input!

My book 'Sisters Of Mercy' does not fit into either children's or young adult, but it does draw on my emotions of being adopted and finding my birth family. It is very much an adult novel, it may be one you want to check out?

Cheers,

Neill Bartlett

Hi Angela,

My husband and I are considering adoption, too--although it looks like Korean adoption might be out for us.

I became interested in adoption after researching my novel, Somebody's Daughter. I don't know what kind of portrayal of adoption it gives--but Adoptive Families gave it a great review, one that was written by an adoptee...Good luck. There's a lot of good stuff out there, nonfiction, too.

cheers,
marie

As a reader, you'll be interested in Marianne Novy's work. She's an English professor, literary scholar, adopted adult, and a mother by birth. I think you'll find her analysis of adoption in literature provocative -- it might make you rethink your definition of "positive" versus "negative" portrayals of adoption.

In addition, her book Reading Adoption has an extensive bibliography of fiction and film with adoption themes.

You may already know about this book, but if you're considering adoption, I highly recommend Joyce Maguire Pavao's The Family of Adoption. (Non-fiction.)

Happy reading!

I found the link: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/artic...

Good luck, Angela. You sound like you have wonderful parents, I imagine you will be a wonderful parent, too

If anyone is interested, I am the owner and moderator of a yahoo group book club for adoption. We are sort of in a hiatus at this point, but hopefully we'll be up and running after the new year once dh is back on his feet. Books focus on fiction, non-fiction, biography/memoir, children's lit mentioned, cultural/racial issues books. There is also a database on there you can look at for ideas.
Melanie

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adoptio...

Amanda wrote: "I would be interested in your book club. I am always looking for good resources and meeting other people who have also adopted. "


Just follow the link in my other post and click the join this group button.
Melanie

Jenny wrote: "Marie, thanks for mentioning your book. I read the synopsis and comments. We're not going to be adopting internationally, we're pursuing a domestic Caucasian adoption, but at one point we were cons..."

Hi, Jenny, I think your absolutely right about it's the handling of the adoption: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cm...

I think, like in life, there is good and bad--there are a lot of people who said they knew a-parents like the ones who were portrayed in my book. But some of the best parents I know are adoptive parents...but it's them--they would be great parents no matter what because they are great people. I think one also always has to realize, however, that no matter how happy an occasion (my niece is adopted from Korea) it is--there is always loss involved, and that makes it different from having a birth child (we have one bio child)

Hello, I will mail hard copies or on Kindle to five people willing to review BearThe Adventures of Baylard Bearcan email here or at ferless74@yahoo.com thank you

The story has an adoption theme.

I am actually looking for (hopefully fiction) novels that deal with the pain as well as the healing involved with being an adoptee. Most people consider adoptees lucky, and maybe some of them are, but it makes me feel isolated and alone. I love reading as a means of coping, it's easy to loose yourself in someone else's story; any suggestions for good lit that doesn't paint the perfect adoption picture?

While not fiction, No Matter What by Sally Donovan is an exceptional memoir which vividly describes the process of adopting two traumatised siblings - the writing is unflinching, but also very funny and humane http://www.amazon.com/No-Matter-What-...

Here's a list of the range of books on adoption published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers http://www.jkp.com/uk/adoption-foster...

Greetings! My novel, LOSING ISAIAH, was just reissued by Diversion Books.

http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Isaiah-S...

It's definitely not for kids, but it reflects a lot of what I learned throughout my life about adoption. Although I'm not adopted, several people very close to me were. I'd love to know if anyone here has read it and what they thought. (It was adapted as a film starring Jessica Lange and Halle Berry, but the novel is better, if I do say so myself.)

Angela, I have just self published a book called My Little Valentine that is about my mother who was born on Valentine's Day 1925. She was born at the Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City, Missouri. She was adopted as a baby and raised by a loving, rural Kansas farm family. She always wanted to find out about her birth mother and searched to no avail. When she was 66 years old, I was fortunate enough to find her birth mother. My grandmother was 83 years old. This is the story of their lives, my adopted grandparents' lives, and my mother and grandmother's reunion. They had 14 years to get to know one another. Upon my mother's passing, I found hundreds of letters my grandmother had sent to my mother. These letters encouraged me to tell their story. If you are interest in checking it out, my website is www.mylittlevalentinebook.com .

Hi-I've been working on a fiction book about adoption for a while now. I have written a children's picture book about adoption (A Long Way From Home), a middle grades reader about adoption (My Sister is Adopted), a NF book (After the Honeymoon: Adoption Edition), and now am working on a novel about a woman who adopts. What topics, as an adoptive parent, would you like to see? All ideas are welcome!

Shelley Hrdlitschka wrote "Tangled Web" which talks about the importance of birth connections but also the value of relationships that aren't based on birth. Teen audience.