Our Chosen Child: How You Came To Us And The Growing Up Years [Hardcover]

Judy Pelikan (Author), Judith Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

Parents record every milestone-from the first smile to the first day at school-in a child's baby book for posterity. Thanks to best-selling author Judith Levy, adoptive parents can now express their joy and love for a child in a baby book created especially for them. Our Chosen Child omits the traditional space for recording details about the pregnancy, labor, and delivery, highlighting instead the special preparations adoptive parents make and the excitement and anticipation they feel.In Our Chosen Child, adoptive parents can record family history and all the milestones of childhood through high school graduation. Additionally, Our Chosen Child includes the milestones that an adoptive family achieves. A page entitled "Waiting for You" acknowledges the many steps along the journey to becoming an adoptive family, such as completing a home study and getting references. On the page entitled "When We First Saw You" parents can capture the special moment when they first meet their intended child, whether as a newborn or as a five-year-old. The happy memories of the day the adoption is finalized are recorded on the "Adoption Day" page.Each page features original poetry by Judith Levy, such as this loving dedication: "You had a journey to make, A trip to come through, To parents who were praying, And waiting for you." Judy Pelikan's tender illustrations grace every page, making this book a beautiful keepsake.All adoptive parents will want to complete this treasury of memories for their own "chosen child."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author Judith Levy and artist Judy Pelikan began their successful collaboration in 1983 with Grandmother Remembers: A Written Heirloom for My Grandchild, which sold over two million copies and was number two on the New York Times best-seller list. Since then, they have had many best-selling books, including Grandfather Remembers (1986), Mom Remembers (1990), and Dad Remembers (1993). A grandmother of four, Judith lives in Boca Raton, Fla. Her youngest grandchild is adopted. Judy lives in Sugar Hill, N.H.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0740727095
• ISBN-13: 978-0740727092
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Adoption

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Author of Waiting for You: An Heirloom Adoption Journal, March 29, 2003

By 

INQUIRIES OR FEEDBACK: "www.PamperedChef.biz/... (Fishers, IN.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Chosen Child: How You Came To Us And The Growing Up Years (Hardcover)

Parents of adult adopted children will treasure this book to record their past. Parents of infant adopted children will enjoy using this book to record their present and future. It is well made and colorful. It has places for the mother and father to use. This would not be a great fit for single adoptive parents or alternative families, however. The book highlights and documents the child's years growing up. This keepsake is sure to be a labor of love. What a beautiful book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good for domestic - not international adoption, August 19, 2004

By 

Book Maven "Jules" (KC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Our Chosen Child: How You Came To Us And The Growing Up Years (Hardcover)

It was hard to tell from the review of this whether this would be a good choice for an international adoption. Against my gut feel, I went ahead and ordered this as I really wanted to get started on a lifebook while waiting for our son to come home. This is a really nice book - very colorful and cute little verses - but, to me, it seems like it is best for those adopting domestically vs internationally. There are pages in here where you can record baby's 'firsts' - since our son will probably be 6-8 months old when we bring him home, we'll probably not be around for some of the 'firsts.' Most definitely for parents adopting from other countries such as China and Russia, these pages wouldn't be relevant. Since I haven't been able to find what I really want, I've decided to keep this book but basically make what I'm looking for from scratch.

The one thing that really bothered me about this book was the sticker that is on the front cover - it says something about a book for adoption. That's fine but I didn't want to keep it on the cover - boy was this sticker difficult to remove. I still have lots of stickiness on the front cover. What a pain!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I had no problem adapting for our daughter from China, October 5, 2004

By 

KSL "emma-and-me" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Our Chosen Child: How You Came To Us And The Growing Up Years (Hardcover)

Our daughter is adopted from China and had no problem adapting this book for my daughter! Note, this is just a good start for a baby book like every birth child has, I am not using this as or in place of making a lifebook for my daughter.

What I really also like about this book is that it's not just for the 1st year which I used for the 1st year at home, but goes farther with 1st to 5th birthday, School Bells 2 1/2 pages to record Preschool & Teachers, Kindergarten, Elementary School, After-school classes, 1st time you went to school you....., You were most interested in.... Your ambition was... Your best school buddy... Your favorite teacher was... We beamed when your teacher said..... Then there are 2 pages for Holidays, Keeping you Well, the Middle Years 6 through 12 grade, Teenage Years, A Sharing which has 2 pages for you to finish the sentence for great questions like.... A Thought we'd like to Share with You is...., Any Choices you ever make we'll support because..., We'll always be there for you because...., We've always wanted you to know that...., & We're very proud to be your parents because....., there is also a 1 1/2 pages for Looking Ahead ... Our wishes for your future, When it comes to summing up how we feel about you, always know that....,


Adaptions I made to make this book fit for my daughter/ or your child:

On the Family Tree page - I put " Your China Roots" down at the bottom of the tree and on the trunk of the tree where it splits for information on you and your husbands family I put " Your Chinese birth family". I even added an additional branch for my husband's son from a prior marriage!

On the Waiting for You page - Added what agency, the date we started out dossier / collecting paperwork, what we had to collect first paperwork wise, what we where ask to which I added a parenting class we went attended. This page is pretty easy to adapt.

On the When we First Saw You page - I talked about " the Call" we received telling us we where parents and the next day when when I got the Fed Ex package and took it UNOPENED - boy that was hard so that your dad & I could open together at his work and the 3 photos that where included with your medical paperwork and paperwork telling us all about you.

On the Showers of Love page - I took the first page and added both Baby Announcements, and the other the 2 showers that where given to us!

On Growing Up Page - I simply added at home and made all of the dates mentioned for how long after we had been home.

On Your Special Day - I used for our 1st " Forever Family Day" or some call it
" Gotcha' Day " which is the day you finally meet and get to FINALLY hold your daughter or son in your arms.

It is so hard to find good international adoption books, when most seem to be geared for domestic adoptions, but I had no problem adapting this book to fit my daughters needs. As well as another book I found and liked! I kept them both because this book goes further than the 1st year!

I half agree with Beth O'malley in regards to no mention or space for your child's birth parents, but think that this is a very sensitive subject and should be addressed in your child's own lifebook.

And as far as sticky stickers, ours didn't come with that sticker. But if you have that problem go to any scrapbooking store and they have I think several sticker removal products, the one I have has a built in sticker removal scrapper.