A Forever Family (1992)
Level: School Age
Eight-year-old Jennifer Jordan-Wong describes her adoption by a family after four years of living as a foster child with many different families.
A Mother for Choco (1996)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Believing physical resemblance is a requirement for parenting, Choco asks several animals with features similar to his if they will be his mother. This wonderful tale concludes with Choco joining Mother Bear's family, which includes an alligator, a piglet and a hippo.
Aaron's Door (1977)
Level: Pre-school
A moving story for children about the difficult adjustment of a brother and sister moving into their new home.
Adoption is for Always (2003)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Mom, Dad and Celia work through Celia's feelings about being adopted; Mom and Dad institute special family holiday celebrating Celia's adoption day and their love for each other.
All About Adoption: How Families are Made and How Kids Feel About It (2004)
Level: School Age
Written by clinical psychologists, consumer text explores the what, how, and why of adoption and the feelings children can experience as they grow up. Abundant color illustrations. Provides a sections for parents discussing the unique practical and emotional dimensions of adoptive children and their families, and offers many suggestions.
All About Adoption: How to Deal with the Questions of your Past (2006)
Level: Teen
Being an adolescent is jam-packed with challenges-friendships, love, peer pressure, dating, and family issues-but when you're adopted, your family issues might seem a bit more complicated. Using personal testimonials and a hip, reassuring advice-style, All About Adoption helps kids understand the questions and concerns they might have about their birth history. Also discussed are issues that may arise when an adopted child wants to learn more or unite with their birth family. All teens and pre-teens are dealing with the trials of acceptance, growing up, fitting in, and communicating with their parents, and All About Adoption reassures adopted kids that they are not alone.
Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self (1993)
Level: Teen, Adult
Illustrates common developmental pathways of adoptees as they occur throughout the life span. It probes the complex issues that are involved in this ongoing life process. Five themes run throughout this book: the experience of adoptees; developmental perspectives; normality; search for self; and sense of loss.
Horace (Transracial Adoption) (1991)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Horace, an adopted child, realizes that being part of a family depends on how you feel and not how you look.
How It Feels To Be Adopted (1982)
Level: School Age, Pre-Teen, Teen
Nineteen kids tell their true feelings about being adopted, encouraging adopted readers to view their own reactions to adoption as valid, to realize that there is no right or wrong way to feel, and to see their mixed emotions as normal and appropriate.
Is That Your Sister? A True Story of Adoption (1992)
Level: School Age
Story of how two sisters joined their adoptive family. Particularly suited for transracial adoptions.
Let's Talk About Adoption (1994)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
By Fred Rogers. Yes, that's right, but it is very comprehensive from a child's point of view. Older child, birth family, multi-racial in approach, kids benefit from stories, whether birth or adoptive child.
Making Sense of Adoption (1989)
Level: Adult
Through sample conversations, reassuring advice, and age-specific activities, author, Louis Melina, a nationally renowned expert on adoption, offers practical help for parents on how to talk to their children about adoption.
My New Family: A First Look at Adoption (2003)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Children are sometimes upset to discover that they have been adopted. This book helps them understand how lucky they are to have to have loving, adoptive parents—and how lucky their parents are to have them!
Rosie's Family: An Adoption Story (2001)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Rosie's Family is a story about belonging in a family regardless of differences. Rosie is a beagle who was adopted by schnauzers. She feels different from the rest of her family and sets forth many questions that children who were adopted may have.
Stellaluna (1993)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Baby Bat Stellaluna becomes separated from her mother. She is lucky enough to land in the nest of baby birds. Her adoptive mom accepts her into the nest, but only on the condition that she will act like a bird, not a bat. Anyone who has ever been asked to be someone they are not will understand the conflicts, and the possibilities that Stellaluna faces. It is about being proud of who you are, and about maintaining friendships with those who are different from you.
Talking With Young Children About Adoption (1995)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Current wisdom holds that adoptive parents should talk with their children about adoption as early as possible. But it's often hard to know what to say and when to say it. How do children respond to the concept of adoption? How do they incorporate adoption into their make-believe play? What worries do they have?
The Boy Who Wanted A Family (1982)
Level: School Age
Seven year-old Michael has been bounced from foster home to foster home. Now he's going to live with Ms. Graham, but who wants to adopt a boy who can't even tie his shoelaces? This is a compassionate story of a year of discovering what a family can be, based on the author's personal experience.
The Face in the Mirror: Teenagers and Adoption (2000)
Level: Teen, Adult
Being a teenager in today's complex world is a difficult enough task, but adopted teens have an additional struggle: to discover their identity and a sense of belonging and place in the world. THE FACE IN THE MIRROR brings attention to the growing and often controversial phenomenon of teenagers wanting to know where they came from.
The Family Book (2003)
Level: Pre-school
There are so many different types of families, and THE FAMILY BOOK celebrates them all in a funny, silly, and reassuring way. Parr includes adopted families, step-families, one-parent families, and families with two parents of the same sex, as well as the traditional nuclear family. His quirky humor and bright, childlike illustrations will make children feel good about their families. Parents and teachers can use this book to encourage children to talk about their families and the different kinds of families that exist.
The Invisible String (2000)
Level: Pre-school
THE INVISIBLE STRING is a very simple approach to overcoming the fear of loneliness or separation from parents, with an imaginative flair that children can easily identify with and remember. Here is a warm and delightful lesson teaching young and old that we aren't ever really alone. It's a story no one has ever told or heard before.
The Mulberry Bird (1996)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
A single mother bird decides that her baby needs a mom and a dad, so she makes an adoption plan. Special attention is paid to the child's self-esteem.
The Ordinary Miracle (1980) (Out of Print)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
Story of how two sisters joined their adoptive family. Particularly suited for transracial adoptions.
Why was I Adopted (2000)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
A fun-filled, matter-of-fact book for children dealing with the difficult questions about adoption. Supportive to all members of the adoption triad, this book includes reference to transracial and single parent adoptions.
Zachary's New Home: A Story for Foster and Adopted Children (1990)
Level: Pre-school, School Age
The adventures of Zachary the kitten, who is taken from his mother's house when his mother is unable to take care of him. Eventually he is adopted by a family of geese. Zachary experiences the true-to-life feelings of shame, rebelliousness, and hurt, and his adoptive parents struggle with their own feelings during Zachary's tougher times, until Zachary finally finds a place he can call home. The poignant story is brought to life by the detailed, evocative drawings.