Washington Post Blogger Taps Favorite Adoption Books Including One for Transracial Families

Sept. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- Washington Post Adoption Blogger taps 10 Children's Adoption Books

Andrea Poe, blogger on The Red Thread, An Adoptive Family Forum at the Washington Post, has created a list of her top ten favorite adoption books for children.(http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/red-thread-adoptive-family-forum/2010/jul/26/best-adoption-books-kids/) Included on the list are books to help children understand the basics of adoption, how different kinds of families are formed, and what it's like to not look like those in your family–something that happens with transracial adoption.  

Books for All Kinds of Adoptive Families
Her list includes some old favorites like A Mother For Choco By Keiko Kasza a story that uses animals to show that a mother can be different looking from her child and still be her mother.  Another book popular with those adopting from China,  I Love You Like Crazycakes by Rose Lewis, is a story about a single mother adopting from China and the love she feels for her new child. Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis about domestic adoption and the story of how one little girl joined a family and the story her mother tells over and over again. Another one of her listed books is helpful to families made up of different races, I Don't Have Your Eyes by Carrie Kitze helps family create a fit when the outside world looks at you as if you don't belong together.

When you don't match, are you still a family?
"When my children were young, we received a number of questions, comments and stares from people who struggled to see how a family that didn't match could actually be a family," remarked Carrie Kitze, author of I Don't Have Your Eyes. "My kids struggled with the matching thing as well.  My oldest wanted her eye color to be blue like mine, not the beautiful brown that she has. This book set out to find the areas of commonality that we have as a way to connect as a family."

Resources for Transracial Adoptive and Foster Families
A number of resources are available on the EMK Press website http://www.emkpress.com/ugdownload.html for transracial families.  "This book was written with adopted and foster children in mind, but it is also highly appropriate for teaching children in any environment about celebrating differences." observed Healing Magazine as it awarded the book a Healing High Five. There are also some resources to explore "Outside Difference, Inside Sameness" using I Don't Have Your Eyes as a foundation for discussion on difference.  A downloadable guide can be found at http://www.emkpress.com/eyes.html that is appropriate for use in Kindergarten, first and second grades.

Helping to Create Family Fit
The book opens with "I don’t have your eyes, but I have your way of looking at things" and continues with a succession of lyrical statements.  Written in the voice of a child, the content is a series of sentiments that appeal to kids of all ages and present the perspective that children and parents can acknowledge their physical differences while celebrating their similarities." As more families are formed by transracial adoption and children are fostered in different race households, celebrating the coming together as a family is incredibly important.

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About EMK Press: A publisher of books and information for adoptive families, adoptees, foster parents, foster children, birth parents, and the professionals who work with them.