Customer Reviews

At Home in This World, A China Adoption Story

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There are at least two things that make this book stand out from the growing field of literature about adoption from China: it is told from the perspective of a child, rather than an adult, and it takes into account the sad feelings, as well as the happy ones that we parents remember so well.

In her introduction, the author (a mother of two girls from China) describes how she first put together an adoption story that emphasized all the wonderful things about adoption including a "...baby-book heavy on adoption-day photographs." Then she realized that "The relentlessly positive spin I chose to put on my girls' pre-adoption birth story was confusing to my daughters, who recognized buried feelings that didn't always parallel mine." She found that she needed to address and legitimize these feelings.

This is not to say that the book is sad. The young narrator tries to make sense of why her birthparents would leave her, she wonders what they look like, she notes that she looks like a "confused little baby" in her adoption video, and she talks about early dreams she had of being lost after she went to sleep at night. She says "I understand all of these things in my head, but it is so much harder to understand in my heart." She concludes her story by saying that she is bringing her sides together ..."One girl from two places who is growing up to be at home in this big, wide world."

After the story, the author includes some information at questions that parents and children can discuss after they read the book.

The book is illustrated with charming watercolors by Qin Su, a native of China. They have a fresh, direct quality to them.

This belongs on adoptive parents' bookshelf along with Mommy Far, Mommy Near by Carol Antoinette Peacock and Kids Like Me in China by Yin Ying Fry.

From the moment my own adopted daughter said, "I don't look like anyone in my family", I realized again the importance of explaining her story in words that she could understand and take to heart. "At Home in this World" is the book that so many adoptive parents have been waiting for.....a story told in words that children can truly understand. The main character writes: "Part of my life has been like a puzzle needing pieces, but I am understanding more about myself and my life everyday." Our adopted children want this more than anything....to understand their stories and how their lives began. "At Home in this World" is the perfect book to help an adopted child know that there are others feeling the same way they are. It doesn't downplay the very real feelings that adoptees often have about not being able to know their birthparents or wishing they looked like their new family. It is honest and genuine. I found it to be a very empowering book for my daughter, showing her that it is okay to speak openly about the truth that she did indeed have a life before adoption.

After reading this book, my almost five year old daughter and I were in the car with a whole vanful of teens. My daughter turned to my son's friend and said, "see my brown eyes? My birthparents gave them to me." "At Home in this World" was an important book that helped show my daughter that she has her own story to tell, one that has both loss and joy, and one that she can indeed be proud to call her own. I can't recommend it more highly.

I think the best way to share the impact of this book is to relate the following--after I read the book to my daughter, Jaclyn, who was adopted at the age of 4 from China, she silently cluctched the book to her chest and then placed it in the pile of "treasures" she has. Needless to say the book had a powerful impact. This book was very needed as there was truly a void in books that help the slightly older girls express "their" story. Jean did a fabulous job in doing this and in conveying, as part of the education guide, the importance of helping our kids relate and understand their stories. The book also has captivating photos and is truly a treasure!!! I can't recommend it highly enough.

This is the book I've been waiting for. Jean MacLeod has so eloguently put to words the thoughts and feelings of my own daughters who were adopted from China. There has been a large void in the adoption book industry, but this book now fills it! Written in the first person, At Home In This World, is the narrative of a 9 year old girl who was adopted from China as an infant, trying now to make sense of her past, and to understand her feelings of the present. Just as my own daughters struggle to make sense of their lives from long ago in China, and now as part of our family, so does the child in this book. The author has normalized those feelings and thus helps the adopted girls of China to see that ALL their feelings about their journey are normal and perfectly fine to have. I love this book, and will buy a copy for both of my daughters. This is a book for them to treasure, and to someday share with their own children, as they describe the journey they have lived.

I highly recommend this book, especially for pre-teen children who are just beginning to think more deeply about issues raised by international adoption. The watercolors are beautiful, the concept is excellent and the narrative well written and very strong. At Home in This World will help older children think about the issues surrounding their abandonment and adoption and may help many of them articulate their own ideas and feelings. I especially like that this story is told through the voice of an older child rather than an omniscient narrator or parent. It invites the reading child to identify with the narrator and leaves room for the child to spin the story as she wishes. An important contribution to the emerging literature written for internationally-adopted children.

Our family has a number of friends with adopted children, many of whom are from China. This was the perfect book for my nearly nine year old daughter to read. It answered questions that I have been unable to answer. "At Home in this World" clearly illustrates the issues faced by adoptive children. The book has given my daughter a lesson in compassion that I couldn't have given her. She was able to relate to the young girl in the book through the eyes of her close friends from China. The author was most sensitive in her description of the missing pieces that these young people feel. I highly recommend this book.

International adoption can be complex, adoption from China can be even more so due to current population restrictions enforced by the Chinese government. Explaining to our children how they came to be a part of our family can be a delicate topic to navigate given that there are so many unknowns leading to questions that quite possibly may go unanswered. I ordered this book upon our return from China with our daughter. In the course of our adoption journey I've read many books from the perspective of the parent - understanding the challenges that lie ahead, what life is like in the orphanages and the Chinese culture. Aside from the book by Ying Ying Fry, this is a rare book written for and from the the child's perspective and heart. As our daughter grows she will learn more of her life story and she will have questions. Some answers will lead to more questions, okay pretty much all of them will. This book will be one of the tools to enable her to know that she isn't the only one who has wondered these same things and that it's okay to want to find answers to her questions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is already the parent, grand-parent, aunt or uncle to a child born in China who is now home in their world, and to all the children who have found their Forever Families. As much as our children are a gift to us, this book could bring peace of mind and heart to our children, a treasured gift.

This book is such a provocative, sobering, thoughtful, and well-written look at abandonment and adoption from the perspective of a nine-year-old girl. The prologue really gave this newly-adoptive mother something to think about, and the story even more. I've read the story several times and think of it often as I consider my daughter and her experience and how we'll give her the space, support and love she needs to integrate her journey into her life here. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone adopting a child of any age.