An Unofficial Book Review

While we were waiting for Gwen, I collected a number of children's books with adoption themes. This book is one that was recommended, but I had been unable to find until now. (Amazon has it!)

When it came it the mail yesterday, Madelyn took it to read herself before I had even had a chance to look at it. The book is written from the perspective of a beagle puppy named Rosie who has been adopted by a family of schauzers. On one of the first pages, Rosie is listing some of the things she loves. She says she loves her family, and it shows the same picture as is on the cover (below). Right away Madelyn said, "How can that be her family? They look different from her." How ironic! I explained that our family was a little like that... oh yeah... then she realized. She hadn't thought of it before! She carefully read the rest of the book to herself without further comment, and when she was finished, she said, "That was a good book." When I asked her why, she replied, "Because it told a lot about adoption."

When I read the book later, I found that it is a fairly obvious discussion of the common questions children who don't "match" their adoptive families might have. But since the story is about a dog family, it seems like a fun way to think about these adoption issues.

I think it would be a good book to donate to your child's teacher, or maybe even to give to your child's cousins or friends who might have questions about adoption. I'm glad to own it... I'm sure we'll be pulling it out from time to time in the next couple years as we discuss these questions at our house.