I received a book to read and review and I am pleased to do so.

The book is called “The Little Girl” by Phil Wong. This is a children’s book about a little girl raised by a single dad.

The book is set in China and focuses on a baby girl, Ming Zhu, who is abandoned and found by a man Li Feng. He takes her home and raises her as his daughter.

There are several things I like about this book. The illustrations are beautiful and children will love them. The colors are both soft and bright.

I like the way it embraces the Chinese... more

Adoption in the United States, A Reference for Families, Professionals, and Students is a new book just released in May by Lyceum Books Incorporated. If you are new to the world of adoption, reading this book could save you hundreds of research hours. It could also save you from making embarrassing blunders when dealing with birth families, adoptive families, or adoption professionals. Those of us who have been part of the adoption world for over a decade have had to learn the ropes by asking many questions and making mistakes. If you are thinking about adopting,... more

Chapter one covers an adoptee’s fantasies and curiosity about their birth family. Throughout the book, Danea reinforces the normalcy of a teenager’s feelings, emotions, and curiosity. She makes it very plain that everyone experiences these feelings, fantasies, and emotions at some time in their lives. She validates a teenager’s rights to feelings, whatever those feelings might be, and rights to information. She encourages journaling to help teenagers work through their feelings and track their progress.

Danea states in the book that it is natural for... more

I was really excited to receive a new book in the mail about adoption issues. Adopted Teens Only A Survival Guide to Adolescence is 98 pages of clearly written, useful, and relevant information organized in a logical sequence. The book isn’t actually for adoptive parents although it can be eye opening for us to understand what our teens are thinking and going through emotionally. It is written for adolescence who were adopted and are trying to make sense of it all. The book was written by Danea Gorbett and published by iUniverse.... more

This book is over five hundred pages long, so I haven’t read all of it yet; but the book that I find myself consulting over and over again is the book Trauma Through A Child’s Eyes by Peter A. Levine and Maggie Kline.

The book is extremely thorough and clinical, yet highly readable and accessible. The book walks the reader through infancy through adolescence and is specific to issues of trauma.

There are four sections: Understanding Trauma (covering what trauma is, physiological response, signs of trauma, and types of trauma); General Guide For... more

When I wrote my last post, Power of Books in Understanding Adoption, I was surprised to find that the Adoptive Parenting blog had no book review of Jamie Lee Curtis' book, Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born. I decided to rectify this with this post.

This book is my favorite adoption book written for little... more

While I cant say that I have read every adoption related book, I certainly have read many.I have also read many parenting books. I tend to shy away from books that say they are the end all be all to parenting or this is the right way to parent and your'e doing it all wrong type of books. I don’t think there is one way to parent effectively; it’s not an exact science. I love learning new tools and trying out new techniques. Here are some of my favorite books on Adoption & Parenting.

Parenting... more

I love signing with my daughter. She is talking so much now and some may wonder why we continue to sign with her even after she has learned to speak. I started signing with her when we came home from Russia when she was 16 months old .She was not speaking. It was one of the best things I ever did for her because her language blossomed. Some claim that signing hinders a child’s language development and that has not been the case with us and in fact it has helped her. Her teachers encourage signing and sign at school. Livi has dropped some signs upon learning... more

My daughter loves this series of That’s not my_____, Usborne touchy-feely books. They are very simple and meant for a much younger child but the bright pictures, and repetitive sayings are very endearing. The “That’s not my lion” version starts out with a little mouse looking for his Lion. The Mouse says, That’s not my Lion… his nose is too fuzzy and each page has something that is telling the child reading the book why that is not the Mouse’s lion. The child can feel the soft ears, the rough paws, the fluffy tail, the shiny teeth and the shaggy mane.... more

Book Review: The Girls who went away by Ann Fessler

There is so much I want to say about this book. I hope I can articulate everything I want to convey and do it justice in my review. This book has stuck with me, I can’t shake it. The stories are forever in my memory and I have changed as a result. Im an avid reader and I cant say the same about too many books in recent history.My perspective and thoughts about adoption & birth mothers has forever changed. This... more