Customer Reviews

Kids Like Me in China

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As an adult Korean adoptee and the author of a memoir about my own adoption experience, I was excited to read "Kids Like Me In China." This book is extremely well written and serves as an important resource for adoptive parents and their children. I only wish a book such as this one would have been available when I was a child growing up in Salt Lake City - often feeling like I was the only Asian and the only adopted person in the whole world. How wonderful that today's children can hear about the adoption experience - told with warmth, curiosity and honesty - from one of their peers, as well as see their faces reflected in the beautiful photographs throughout the book.

I love--abosutely LOVE--Ying Ying Fry's book _Kids Like Me in China--because she addresses (actually quite sophisticated and complex) arguments of adoption research in a personal way, such as saying that sometimes she wondered what it would be like to grow up in an orphanage with the other children, and sometimes when she saw all the babies in the orphanage she had to leave the room. She didn't say (her mother, the editor/transcriber, and her publisher didn't force her to say) that she went back to China, saw the poor starving children, and now feels lucky to be an American-adopted kid. I love how her narrative opens up spaces for other adopted kids to say--yeah, so what if I DID grow up in an orphanage? The woman Ying Ying meets in the book is a part-time model. That's hardly the half-naked, groveling, uneducated street beggar I was told I'd be without the "fortune" of being adopted. When I read Ying Ying's book, I felt so proud of her as a little-sister-adoptee. The vow that I made last year, that I will dedicate my life to better the lives of other adoptees, is a little bit easier to keep knowing that others out there--even a young elementary-school child--are able to take steps in that direction. I lack Ying Ying's language proficiency and connections/background of adoptive parents, but so do many other adoptees. I don't want to speak for adoptees at large. I want to assert the right to tell my story, and in telling my story I want to simultaneously break down the white, male, non-adoptee gaze that assimilates and twists my story to further its own socio-political agenda, and I want to--as Ying Ying has done--set my story out there as an example for other kids. We adoptees have few models. When I read Ying Ying's story, I could both identify with her and say, "that was different for me." The process really helped me to clarify what I wanted to say, and it also encouraged me--that if Ying Ying could do it, so can I.

The book is very reminiscent of "When You Were Born in China." It's hardback, has lots of big pictures on every page, and has a relatively small amount of text. The big difference is that the pictures are in bright color. My (...) daughter was immediately taken with the book, and spent a long time paging through it, looking at the pictures. With me reading it to her, it takes about 30-45 minutes to read this book, without stopping to talk about the pictures much.

The pictures are mostly of kids (all ages) and caregivers at the Changsha orphanage, where Ying Ying, the 8-year-old author, is from. The orphanage is in good shape: it has new cribs for the babies, bright new clothes for all the kids, etc. But there are lots and lots of those cribs to a room, and the text talks about how busy the ayis are, taking care of all the kids. There are frank pictures of special needs kids. There are also pictures of older kids at school (mostly giving performances, rather than
sitting at desks). And there are pictures at a kid's home, which could pass as an American home, complete with laptop computer.

The text is upbeat, articulate, and frank. It's told from Ying Ying's point of view, in a child's "voice." She focuses on the positives in things, while explicitly acknowledging the negatives. Some quotes: "I was really excited and also a little scared." "I don't think the Ayis ever stop working. They hardly ever sit down." "Sometimes I think about [my birthmother]. But I don't talk about it much. Sometimes I just looked at all those babies in all those cribs and I didn't know what to think. Sometimes I just had to leave the room." "Sometimes when my parents were in another part of the orphanage, I'd go to my friends' rooms to play. It was different without my parents there. I talked more, and the kids asked me more questions: 'Do you like America? Do you like China? Do you like your parents?' Yes, yes, yes." There are a few pages that cover the reasons why there are so many kids in the orphanage, and why most of the
infants are girls.

The author of the book is listed as Ying Ying Fry, "with Amy Klatzkin," her mother. I approached this a bit cautiously, because I've seen a little too much of parents putting words into their kids' mouths. The acknowledgements section addresses this explicitly: "The text was constructed from Ying Ying's journal, and from audiotapes, videotapes and interviews with her. The opinions, observations and questions are all hers, and she exercised final approval over the wording." We know Ying
Ying a little, not closely. I do think this seems like a good representation of what a girl like her would feel. While frank, the book represents a fundamentally upbeat outlook.

I'm very happy to have this book for my daughter, who is also from China. While it addresses hard issues, it does it in a way that isn't going to create any trauma that a child doesn't already feel. On the contrary, the book shows an example of a kid who can think about hard things and still have a great outlook. A wonderful role model for my kid. As with "When You Were Born in China", I'd suggest this book for elementary-school aged kids.

This book is priceless. It is written by an 8 year old girl, Ying Ying Fry, who is adopted from China. It is her story of going back to her orphanage in ChangSha, China to see and talk to kids in the orphange and learn about their life. My daughter is also adopted from ChangSha so this story held even more meaning. The words are Ying Ying's and they are powerful in her observations. The pictures of the children and of life in general in China also fill in gaps of what her life may have been like. This is a perfect gift for your child from China. We will treasure it for its glimpse it gave us of life in China. Thank you Ying Ying!

I've already read "Kids" with my daughter nearly a dozen times and we'll no doubt read (and talk about it) it again and again and again. It's touching, enlightening, and really fun to see China through Ying Ying's eyes. It's also wonderful that the book is not just her story, but clearly one that could belong to any kid from China. Having read only parents' accounts so far, I'm also really, really pleased to get the perspectives of a child, For me, it's all about the kids, and it's clear that they can be every bit as eloquent in telling their own stories in their own words. This book should dispel all doubts that kids are capable of making sense of their complex stories. "Kids" doesn't gloss over the hard stuff, but has it all just right in just the right amount of detail. I love it for the hard stuff and I love it for the fun stuff. We get the fun stuff through Ying Ying's ability to converse in Mandarin, which simply gives her (and us) access to the ordinary in China: other kids' lives, schools, and homes. My daughter is just drinking this in and I can't get enough of it. Great story, great pictures, great book!

Kids Like Me In China is absolutely fabulous, beautifully presented, very basic story of one child's visit to her land of birth and the orphanage where she was cared for as an infant, complete with photos that will touch the hearts of all who have travelled to China to make their family complete. It is all at once enchanting, realistic, touching, and upbeat. Personally, I got the added delight of discovering that author Ying Ying Fry is from the same part of China as my own daughter!! I recommend this book to every parent who is contemplating talking to their child about origins and adoption. It will serve as a valuable keepsake and aide in assisting our children to learn/understand/appreciate their very special story!! Congratulations to Ying Ying, who has a wonderful future in whatever she chooses to do!!

By accident, i found this site! I am Chinese and my English teachers (They are a couple)were from the US. They also adopted a girl named Evie Xuezhi Braun from Changsha just the same city as Ying Ying.I was really moved by their adoptive actions when I heard they had no kids and wanna adopt a Chinese orphan. I can still remember the time they saw me off when I started for Shanghai to work there after my graduation.Evie was also there with her American Parents. I really wanna recommand this book to them. It sounds helpful to them and Evie. But we are all in China. I can't get the book~but I will tell them the name of this great book!! Thanks for your Americans' kindness!!! Many Thanks!!!

I purchased KIDS LIKE ME IN CHINA shortly after seeing it displayed at our local Chinese New Year's Party. Although my daughter is not quite 20 months old yet, I have already begun reading this book to her, and showing her the wonderful pictures.

Ying Ying has been gracious enough to share her story with us, which in many ways will be the stories of many of our daughter's from China. As our daughter grows, she will be able to learn about how she came to be in our family, and with Ying Ying's help, she will be better able to understand her story through the eyes of a young girl. I highly recommend this book to anyone thinking of adoption from China, or if you already have your daughter, this book will be an excellent way to talk about China and relate their personal stories. The pictures are wonderful also, the babies in the orphanages are all so precious, and Ying Ying's feelings are so open and real as she travels back to where her story began. This book was a MUST HAVE for our daughter's library!

This book gives us an inside look at an orphanage in Hunan Province and a young girl's homeland trip. It is full of big, color photographs from inside an orphanage, which is such a rare treat. Our 2 1/2 yr-old loves this book and loves all the pictures of the babies and the nannies. When it comes time to talk with our daughter about other issues surrounding her adoption, this book will be a valuable resource. In Ying Ying's own voice we hear about the one-child policy, infant abandonment and adoption.

"Kids Like Me in China" is a great book for children adopted from China and their siblings, cousins and friends. It can help adoptive parents bring up topics that may be difficult for us. It is a must-have!

Ying Ying Fry has written a poignant book of her family's return visit to the orphanage where she spent the first months of her life. The book provides readers a unique opportunity to view life in a Chinese orphanage, as well as Ying Ying's own thoughts on being adopted, and the cultural reasons behind the abandonment of so very many babies, mostly females. The pictures are beautiful, and her writing is both honest and insightful. Besides being incredibly educational for adoptive parents, it is an ideal resource for introducing any child to the concept of international adoption. We are in the process of adopting a baby girl from the same orphanage featured in the book, which made it all the more touching for us to read. I look forward to sharing it with our daughter someday.