Customer Reviews

Our Baby From China: An Adoption Story

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is actually a pretty good model of a scrap book or photo book you could put together for your own Chinese child (if you have adopted one) or a good way for other children to learn some basics about a China adoption.

Some of these reviews seem to take one line in the book out of context. Although I lead a charity whose mission is to help Chinese adoptees feel good about being Chinese and proud of their heritage, I don't think anything in the book could be construed as harmful. Its factual. Yes, most adoptees probably have birth parents who abandoned these children for very understandable reasons, the fact remains, that these children can no longer be loved by their birth parents in any way that is likely to benefit the child. Sure the birth parents might still love the child in a spiritual sense, but we don't know that and cannot know that and to tell your child otherwise is to tell your child something you don't know. Psychologists warn against doing that.

But to focus on one line in this book is to miss the point. This book tells a story that is positive and that I am sure most adoptees can relate to in a healthy way. In actual fact, I will borrow the idea and put together a book for our Chinese children.

In a mere 25 pages, with simple text and beautiful pictures, the story of a China adoption unfolds. My own China girl loves looking through the pictures and seeing the country of her birth. She never tires of it. It is not only her story but hundred's of Chinese children's story. My favorite picture is of the two pairs of quilted children's pants, hanging from the clothes line. Thank you for sharing this story! A good addition for your personal library.

My 2-year old daughter loves this book! At first, she simply loved to look at all the pictures of the babies. When we reached the anniversaries of our referral and her adoption day, we used the book to help explain to her the significance of those dates. I'm sure it will remain a favorite as she grows older and her understanding of her story increases.

I was anxiously awaiting this book only to open and find that the first page indicated the Chinese peoples'/birthparents inability to love these children...
When in fact it is culture and history thousands of years old which force Chinese parents to make a plan of adoption. A loving decision considering their difficult circumstances.
I want to share a loving story with my daughter, not one which implies that love only comes from the adoptive family.

Although I would agree with other readers about one sentence in the book, otherwise it is a factual account of what my husband and I did in China when we adopted her. It is true that many children in China do not have mothers and fathers to love them, but I could tell my daughter that that is also true here in the US. Olivia is 3 and this book is a great way to talk about how she came into our family on her level. She asks to read the story of Ariela "Shanway" every night!!! It makes her feel good that this little girl shares her story.

It is only one tool that we use in our family to talk about her life before in China and after we came to China to bring her into our family!

Julie Gaglione
Mom to Livvy from Yangchun, PRC

Twelve years after publication this book is still a big hit in our house!

As the author of this book I would like to clarify the opening sentence that has led to mis-interpretation by readers. One reviewer wrote "...the first page indicated the Chinese peoples'/birthparents inability to love these children..." That is not what I wrote. The book states "She lived in China with a group of girls and boys who didn't have mothers or fathers to love them." I never implied that the orphanage staff, Chinese people or birth parents had an inability to love these children. The truth is that there was no contact between the birth parents and the orphanage. During that period, orphanage conditions were extremely poor. It was overcrowded and the children did not look happy.

It is the sad truth. In order for a child in China to be placed for adoption, they must be declared an orphan which requires that a 3 month period must pass during which time police attempt to locate birthparents. After that, they can be declared an orphan and then placed for adoption. Some orphanages had foster care programs which may have provided more individual care, but this was not the case in many areas.

I have never implied to my daughter than her birthparents didn't love her. In my heart I believe that she was loved, which is why she felt her losses so deeply and profoundly. When a child has faced the challenge of extreme neglect and trauma most adoption professionals advise against pretending that they were completely surrounded by love and comfort. That is misleading and can create confusion if the child feels a deep sense of rejection and loss. Scientific studies have shown that any infant who is removed from its mother at birth will experience a sense of loss. It is hard to feel loved when you spend hours and hours crying and hungry and no one is available to meet your needs. The circumstances of abandonment in China are unknown and while the government's one-child policy is a plausible reason, we also know that it is not the only reason and therefore need to consider all possibilities until we find out otherwise. Those are the reasons why I worded that first sentence the way I did.

I initially wrote this book as a gift for my daughter's second birthday and at the suggestion of a friend, sent it to a publisher. It has since sold over 12,000 copies. My daughter loved it then and is still very proud of it now, at age 15. I have read it aloud to second, third and fourth grade classrooms with great success to broaden awareness of Chinese adoption. It has been extremely helpful for my daughter's non-adopted peers, even today as a teenager. It explains in simple language how the process works.

My daughter is now a happy teen who is proud of her Chinese heritage and is looking forward to visiting China and her orphanage. And she still loves this book.

Nancy D'Antonio

Our Baby from China/An Adoption Story by Nancy D'Antonio will warm hearts.

Filled with full-color photographs, very much like a family album, this is the true story of a couple who traveled across the world to adopt a child they had learned to love in a photograph. It is also a reminder that love transcends race and nationality.

We are adopting from China. This book is an excellent ice breaker. We put it on our coffee table and it has appealed to my 75 year old father in law and my 5 year old niece. Everybody falls in love with the cute little girl. It puts a face on the abstract and foreign (excuse the pun) concept of international adoption.

I only hope I can give my children so distilled and consistent a message of how much they are loved. The message is a beautiful and pure one about the gift that the journey to China began, of beginning their family by picking up the baby they are adopting.
I think the author and her new-formed family positively radiate with that magic!

A lovely book.

This book is definitely too old for my 3.5 year old son to introduce him to the story that will be his little sister's. He cant bridge the gap that this story is relevant and about someone else. So my task remains hard to find books that can introduce preschoolers to the concept of their new sibling adoption. Anyway, the terms and concepts seem dated, but the book does give me ideas for my new daughter's life book. So in that respect I found it very useful.