Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families [Paperback]

Myra Alperson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0374526117 | ISBN-13: 978-0374526115 | Publication Date: March 20, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

An informed, comprehensive guide to raising a multicultural family.

How many times do you celebrate the New Year at home? Just once? If your family is Jewish, Chinese, and a few other things besides, you might celebrate twice or even three times a year! As the rate of cross-cultural adoption grows in the United States, new traditions are emerging. These are part of a new multiculturalism which, with its attendant joys and challenges, has become a fact of life in urban, suburban and even rural America. Alperson's sourcebook offers families the first complete guide to the tangled questions that surround this important phenomenon. As the adoptive Jewish mother of Sadie, her Chinese-born daughter, Alperson is able to offer personal as well as professional insight into such topics as combining cultures in the home, confronting prejudice, and developing role models. Focusing on adoptive families - international and transracial adoption in the United States has jumped in recent years - she provides guidelines on how families can prepare for their exciting journey toward becoming a multicultural family.

In addition to drawing on extensive interviews with such families, her book includes a wealth of on-line and "conventional" resources to find books, food products, toys, clothing, discussion groups and heritage camps that help families to enhance their lives as they build a multicultural home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The face of adoption has changed dramatically in recent years, a fact that the author, whose daughter is from China, knows very well. "Just ten years ago, I would have had far fewer options, as a single woman over forty, to adopt," Alperson writes. In this invaluable handbook "for multicultural families formed through adoption," she offers not only her firsthand experience and wisdom, but also that of other adoptive parents and experts from around the U.S. She also provides an expansive resource directory for everything from adoption agencies and publications to Web sites and sources for multicultural toys. After tracing the history of cross-cultural adoption in the U.S.--which only began in a significant way after WWII and the Korean War--the book outlines some of the specific issues facing multi-ethnic families, along with strategies for dealing with them. Whether it's facing down racism and family disapproval, helping to create a diverse community in which to raise a child or arranging a homeland tour, Alperson (The International Adoption Handbook) leaves no stone unturned, and her frank style, along with the abundant interviews laced through the book, lend a supportive tone to discussions of both the struggles and joys that multicultural families experience. For readers just beginning to consider cross-cultural adoption or those already in the thick of it, this fine book should be at the top of their resource list.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Based on her research and her own experiences raising a daughter born in China, Alperson (The International Adoption Handbook) has written a helpful book for parents who want to make the ethnic and cultural heritage of their adopted children part of their everyday lives. Her down-to-earth, practical guidance for building multicultural ties will appeal to people thinking about adoption as well as those who already have adopted children. The 80-page annotated listing of publications, organizations, and web sites that follows the text is well done and provides a wealth of information, although this reviewer would not call the compendium a "sourcebook." Alperson's advice is similar to that of the founders of PACT: An Adoption Alliance, Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall, in Inside Transracial Adoption (LJ 11/1/00), although her focus is more directly on international adoptions. Recommended for parenting collections.
- Kay L. Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, MD
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (March 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374526117
• ISBN-13: 978-0374526115
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dont Leave Home Without It, Dont Build a Family without it, February 27, 2001

By 

Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families (Paperback)

Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits sound different at first, but they are all breakfast foods, and they are all based on a grain. The same holds true for these families. They may be shaped or sound differently, but they are all based on kids, who underneath are all the same. I wanted to make sure that I recommended this book today, February 27, 2001. This week, the U.S. Child Citizenship Act takes effect. It makes it easier to provide children adopted from abroad with U.S. citizenship. It is nearly automatic for most children. But I digress, let's discuss Ms Alperson's sourcebook. Each year in the USA, about 15% of all adoptions are of children born outside the USA. (About 20,000 children last year, about 16,000 per year in the past few years, and several hundred thousand over the past 40 years). These parents, grandparents, and children (children adopted across what are perceived as racial, ethnic and cultural boundaries) face a harder time than some other adoptions, since there is the added bonus of multiculturalism. Alperson's sourcebook is an excellent guide and a must read for anyone considering adoption or raising a multicultural family. As the adoptive mother of Sadie Zhenzhen Alperson, she speaks from experience. She tells the stories of strangers not thinking that her daughter and she are daughter and mother. She discusses the need to honor both the child's birth heritage and the new family's heritage, and seeking out mentors and role models (American, Chinese, and Jewish in Alperson's case). Speaking of religion, she also discusses the subject of religious practice and preferences in the new family. (Sadly, you know that some imbecile is going to tell Sadie one day, "funny you don't look Jewish"; hopefully you can protect your child from those relatives who will make them feel that they are in the family as part of some sort of affirmative action program). Speaking of which, a full chapter is devoted to the many forms of prejudice that adoptive families can face. The chapter also includes actual accounts of how other families have responded to prejudice. Alperson gives advice on finding and forming groups where your child can play with children who "look like" or are like them, and what to do if that isn't possible. The sourcebook provides a compendium of resources that can help you create and strengthen multicultural homes, and it also will help you to understand what it means to be multicultural. Alperson includes interviews with adopted children and experts in the field. The bottom line is (1) read it if you are adopting; (2) read it if you know families facing these issues, (3) read it if you are teaching children from these families, and (4) read it if you minister or lead congregations with multicultural families.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Valuable Resource, July 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families (Paperback)

This book is a valuable resource for all who are living in a multicultural family, or who want to create one. It focuses to a large extent on families with children adopted abroad. These families are multi-ethnic but not necessarily multi-cultural. It is a daunting task for a parent to try to teach a child about a cultural heritage that the parent does not share. "Dim Sum, Bagels and Grits" can help those families take that first step. It is also useful for families that are mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity by birth.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indespensable Resource, April 5, 2001

By 

"lsvaron" (Cambridge, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families (Paperback)

Myra Alperson, a wonderful writer writer and the single mother of a daughter adopted from China, has finally written a book which addresses the issues and concerns of multicultural families. Dim Sum, Bagels and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families, helps guide adoptive parents and parents-to-be on the journey toward creating a family cross-culturally. If only I had had a books like this when I adopted my son 18 years ago!

In her book, Alperson looks at the importance of balancing birth culture and adoptive culture within the family, and shaping a multicultural home with traditions, and role models. As Alperson tells us, being a multicultural family is not just about acquiring multicultural books and other materials and going to cultural festivals. It is also about addressing our child's emotional and psychological needs as cross-culturally adopted children. It is not something, as Alperson says, that we celebrate on special occasions but is " a fact of our daily lives"

As one who has experienced cross-cultural single motherhood for nearly two decades, I know how long overdue this book is!

Lee Varon LICSW. Ph.D. Adopting On Your Own: The Complete Guide to Adopting as a Single Parent.