Megan's Birthday Tree: A Story about Open Adoption [Hardcover]

Laurie Lears (Author), Bill Farnsworth (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

Megan is adopted, but she and her parents keep in touch with her birth mother, Kendra. Every year, Kendra decorates the tree she planted when Megan was born. Megan cherishes this Birthday Tree, for it ties her and Kendra together.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4–Megan's birth mother, Kendra, and her adoptive parents lovingly share a connection with each other and with Megan. When the child was born, Kendra planted a tree, and every year she sends a photo of it to Megan on her birthday. Now she is getting married and moving, and the youngster worries that her birth mother will forget her without the tree as a reminder. She wants to discuss it with Mom, but the words get stuck in her throat, so she asks instead for the story of her birth. Mom recalls, "Kendra loved you so much! Yet she knew she wasn't ready to take care of a baby, so she'd chosen Dad and me to be your parents." Lears captures perfectly the child's anxiety about being forgotten, as well as her delight when Kendra reveals that even though she does not need a reminder to keep Megan in her heart, she has dug up the tree to replant at her new home. Accomplished full-color paintings complement the text by depicting Megan's emotions–thoughtful, worried, surprised, and joyful. In a helpful note, a social worker explains the benefits of open adoption. This book presents a sensitive portrayal of a complicated situation and is an excellent way to introduce the topic.– Deborah Vose, Highlands Elementary School, Braintree, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. Megan is adopted, and like many adopted children, she asks a lot of questions. She also receives many answers, thanks to her family's wholehearted embrace of open adoption: "Mom and Dad tell me what I want to know. And since I have an open adoption, I stay in touch with my birth mother, Kendra, too." The simple story focuses on Megan's anxiety about her place in her birth mom's heart, especially once Kendra moves to a new house and leaves behind Megan's "birthday tree," which Kendra had planted in the yard. A face-to-face interaction soothes Megan's fears. The comfortable relationship between Kendra and Megan, qualities emphasized by Farnsworth's sun-drenched oils, may raise unreasonable expectations among children whose experience of open adoption is not quite so ideal. Still, as more adoptive families move toward sustaining "ongoing, meaningful contact" between children and birth parents--now widely preferred by adoption agencies--the story's poignant message will find a growing audience. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807550361
• ISBN-13: 978-0807550366
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cream of the Crop, July 2, 2007

By 

Heather - See all my reviews

This review is from: Megan's Birthday Tree: A Story about Open Adoption (Hardcover)

"Megan's Birthday Tree" is hands-down one of my favorite children's books about open adoption. Some of the things I appreciated as an adoptive parent:

1) The book has an actual plot. Many adoption books for kids focus on explaining adoption. It was refreshing to read a storyline about something other than the birth and/or placement. This is the first adoption book I've read in awhile in which I was actually interested in seeing how it ended.

2) Megan has complex feelings about her adoption appropriate to her age. They are her own feelings and not just a reflection of what adults have told her about her adoption.

3) The adoptive parents play a very supportive, but minor role. The story focuses on Megan and her relationship with her birth mom, Kendra. As an adoptive parent trying to create space for my son and his birth parents to develop their own relationships, I appreciate seeing that modeled.

This is an excellent book for any family involved in an open adoption. Its message that birth parents will always remember the children they placed for adoption could be reassuring for children in closed or semi-open adoptions, as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad., December 20, 2007

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Megan's Birthday Tree: A Story about Open Adoption (Hardcover)

Laurie Lears, Megan's Birthday Tree (Albert Whitman and Co., 2005)

Well-written adoption story about an adopted child's relationship with her birth mother. When Megan was born, her birth mother, Kendra, planted a tree, and Kendra sends Megan a picture of it every year on her birthday. Now Kendra is moving. What's going to happen to the tree, and the ritual that goes with it? Clear, interesting kids' book about open adoption; well worth your time if you're in (or may be in in the future) this situation.***

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming and engaging story about open adoption, January 13, 2010

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Megan's Birthday Tree: A Story about Open Adoption (Hardcover)

This is a well-written and beautifully illustrated story about open adoption that can be read to/with/by children, Grades K and up. The theme is open adoption, and young Megan is an adopted child who keeps in touch with her biological mother, Kendra. The two share notes and photographs, and one in particular is of the Birthday Tree, a tree planted by Kendra after she had given up baby Megan for adoption - it has become a tradition for Kendra to send a picture of the tree every year for Megan's birthday. When Megan finds out that Kendra is getting married and moving to another town, she gets worried that there will no longer be a Birthday Tree for Kendra to remember her by and Megan tries to do something about it.

This story focuses more on the relationship between the Megan and her birth mother, Kendra. Megan's adoptive parents are not involved much in the story, though Megan's adoptive dad is featured a little bit. I would have preferred it if the adoptive parents had been given a more conspicuous role in the story, but I guess the author's focus was on Megan and her relationship with her birth mother. The story itself is engaging and well-illustrated in full color.