Customer Reviews

How It Feels to Be Adopted

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
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2 star:		(1)
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Adoptive parents, when you buy your first picturebook about how your adopted child came into your family, purchase this book, as well. Read it immediately, and then tuck it on the bookshelf for future reference.

This book is based on personal interviews of adopted children between the ages of 8 and 16. They share their opinions on adoption and tell about their families. The range of feelings and attitudes demonstrate that there is no generic adoption experience. Some individuals are very curious about their biological parents (a few even search), and others are not. Some are satisfied with explanations about how they came to be adopted, and others can't understand why their bio parents didn't make another choice. Some feel that being adopted is an important part of their identity, while others see it as a minor issue in their lives.

Though most of the youngsters in this book were adopted as infants, the stories and photos represent a larger diversity, including inter-racial adoptions and older children adopted from foster care.

The author suggests that adopted children think about adoption more often than their parents may imagine. This book will clue parents in to adoption from children's points of view, and offer companionship to adopted children looking for others to understand "how it feels to be adopted."

By exploring so many different children's views on adoption, Jill Krementz opens doors for adoptive parents to discuss these concerns with their children. It was intended for the older child to be able to read, but I feel that it's perfect for a parent to read together with their younger grade-school child. The sooner my child is comfortable discussing her fears and concerns about adoption with me, the easier it will be for me to put her fears to rest.

The one downside to this book is that it is rather dated (from the 80's) & reflects mostly closed domestic adoptions. However, it is still very helpful to hear what may go through children's heads regarding their own adoptions. There are a variety of ages and viewpoints. My husband and I felt that the range of opinions and they way things were described was probably largely based on how the children's parents had described their adoptions to them (including the terminology used... "real" parents, etc... or whether or not parents told their children that they would help them search for their birthparents down the road...). This was required ready by our agency for our 2nd adoption, but I found it very helpful in planning to create a "lifebook" for our first child. It helped me to imagine the things that our child might think or feel down the road & how I could have some impact on that by what I teach him now & over time. The book was very easy reading.

I loved the book. It really gave insight as to what kids are thinking. Very informative and very interesting. Helpful book. I do disagree with others that say it is focused on "white" children. When I read something I read it for what it is and this is a book about children's feelings about being adopted. Color and numbers of colors don't matter. It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it.

As a mother who placed her child with a family for adoption, this book has helped me make some decisions on what kind of open adoption plan I want to have and how my child may feel about it later. I am a little disappointed that it's so dated and that most of the stories are from closed adoptions, but it has still been greatly reassuring for me to understand how my child may feel.

I have two adopted bi-racial children...four year old twins..they're too young to understand about adoption but this book was an excellent source to give me insight to what we may experience as they get older and understand more..having raised them since they were a month old it felt reassuring to hear other adoptees talk about their experiences and family is all that really matters..a loving family is all they really want..we're trying to provide that..

As someone who loves to sit back in the mall and watch people pass by... sitting thinking about who they are, what brought them to this point in their life, what their vast list of experiences may be or their hurts may be.. This book captured me.

It is a very honest and appealing look at adoption from a child who was adopted.
How did it feel?
How did it hurt?
How was it worse or better?

I loved the inner aproach or seeing it through a lense not of a psychologist, not of a text book but a first hand glimpse...

As many who have adopted can attest to, each one is different based on the childs previous experiences or hurts. These can cause issues later on that when not dealt with create tension and hurt in the families and spring back the old feelings of loss and neglect that these children have experienced.

This is a book that I would recommend to anyone interested in adopting, or just adoption in general.

I am a 40 yr old adoptee. It was nice to read how other adoptees feel. I don't feel isolated. This book also is a little sad in reading to see how some children feel. Definitely a good book to purchase for a child or teen that has been adopted.

The idea of this book is amazing and the stories shared are very insightful, open and honest. I beleive adoption has come a long way since this book though and some of the feelings are geared more toward closed adoption scenarios than the open adoptions we have in recent years. Good read for information, I hope someone produces an updated version every 10 years or so to keep up with modern happenings in adoption.

Although I applaud Jill Krementz in her effort to give voice to adopted children, I found this book limited and limiting. The over-emphasis on white children and on search and reunion is both misleading and unhelpful. For a young child unwilling or unable to find birthparents, the focus (as is so often the case in media) on reunions raises troubling questions of their own life. Although there are four African-American children, there is only one Asian child--even though Korea alone is responsible for roughly 100,000 adoptions to U.S. families. I would prefer that this book had been titled, "How it feels to be white adopted."