November is National Adoption Awareness Month. So to do my part I am blogging about my favorite children's books about adoption. I encourage you to check these titles out from your local library and celebrate families of all kinds and types this month. Isn't that really what this time of the year is all about...families and love!?!
Each title has a link to Lexington's public library so if you live in Lex, you can reserve it. The link for the author's name will take you to the book's Amazon page, so you can read a review of the book.
I'm a little leery of books written by celebrities, especially children's books but this is one of my favorites! Curtis who is an adoptive parent, writes with wit & fun and cozy warmth & love (the illustrations are also fantastic!). Many of us take our "birth stories" for granted but all children love to hear how they were born especially children who have been adopted. This story fills that need and encourages all of us to tell our children their birth stories of how they came to be in our family.
Many of you may already enjoy Todd Parr's bright and fun illustrations and stories. The Family Book is about the many different types of families and one page highlights adoptive families. I liked this book better than his book that was specifically about adoptive families, although I still recommend it too.
"There is an ancient Chinese belief that an invisible, unbreakable red thread connects all those who are destined to be together."
That is how this fairy tale begins. I love fairy tales, children's books and I'm passionate about adoption...this book really couldn't go wrong for me. This book is more fairy tale than accurately portraying or giving info about adoption but it is still a good book to use to discuss adoption.
Probably my favorite adoption picture book because of the sweet illustrations and story. Anita Jeram is the illustrator for the well-known children's book "Guess How Much I Love You." This is about a mother rabbit, her biological child and two adopted children and what makes them all different and similar and most important... family.
Another rather well-known children's author (one of my other favorites by Kasza is "My Lucky Day"). A little bird discovers what it really means and takes to be family.
This was Karen Katz's first book before she became well-known for her baby lift-the-flap board books. (Aurora smiles really big when we read Katz's "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" to her). Just like her baby board books, she uses a lot of bright colors and these paticular illustrations have a lot more texture. This story is based on Katz's personal experience in adopting a child from Central America.
This book is told from the perspective of a little girl who has been adopted. The book highlights many concerns adoptive children often have such as were they "born" like other children? A happy sweet story of the day in the life of Samantha and her adoption story.
A little more educational and less story-like than the other titles I have mentioned but still engaging. This book, unlike most of the others, covers the different forms that adoption can take such as adoptions of older children through foster care.
This is probably already more titles than you will ever need or want but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are other titles I can recommend, just ask if you want more. :)
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