Rain Forest Girl: More Than an Adoption Story [Library Binding]

Chalise Miner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998 | Age Level: 8 and up

The true-life cross-cultural adoption story of Diana Miner. Author Chalise Miner details her adopted daughter's last few years in her primitive homeland to her arrival in the United States in late 1990. The story is told through the eyes of a child who didn't really understand why her life was suddenly turned upside down. The tale of a little girl beating the odds was composed to capture the attention and imagination of children everywhere--especially those who were adopted at an older age from a foreign country by American parents.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-It is rare for an adoption story to focus on the waiting child rather than on the waiting parents. Daiane's adoptive mother has written a book about her daughter's life from the time the girl's ailing mother gave her up at age seven, through a two-year wait living in a convent while paperwork was completed, to her first confusing weeks in the U.S. Daiane's difficult and isolated life in the Brazilian rain forest is only briefly described. However, the author does an excellent job of conveying the strangeness of the adoption process, new English-speaking parents, and the first hotel stay and airplane ride for this nine year old. Readers share her relief when she meets an American girl who speaks Brazilian Portuguese. An epilogue introduces the 16-year-old Daiane, now Diana, who has visited the nuns in Brazil and dreams of returning there to help poor children, but in the meantime "kicks the soccer ball farther than anyone on her team." The black-and-white photos are informative. This title complements Perry Schwartz's Carolyn's Story (Lerner, 1996), a book that depicts an adopted Honduran child's life in the U.S.
Nancy Schimmel, formerly at San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Rain Forest Girl is a thoughtful, caring, and perceptive look at cross-cultural adoption from the child's point of view. Every parent considering or completing cross-cultural adoption should do themselves a favor and read this book," (Foster W. Cline, M.D., Co-founder of Love & Logic Institute, Golden, Colorado)

"This powerfully written story is exactly what I have needed to address the concern of the ever-increasing number of families affected by adoption. When I read it to my class, they would not let me take a break from reading. They listened in awe and complete silence, anxious to hear every word of Diana's story." -- D. Sherilyn Seitz, Educator, Shawnee Mission Schools, Shawnee Mission, Kansas

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 48 pages
• Publisher: Mitchell Lane Pub Inc (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883845653
• ISBN-13: 978-1883845650
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,682,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nonfiction illustrated record of adoption of Brazilian child, September 10, 1998

By 

Carolyn Leonard "all about books" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rain Forest Girl: More Than an Adoption Story (Library Binding)

Review by Carolyn B. Leonard ©1998 1st NASR, All rights reserved 334 words

Title: RAIN FOREST GIRL Subtitle: More Than an Adoption Story by Chalise Miner (Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc, Hardback $16.95) ISBN 1-883845-65-3

This nonfiction record, illustrated with photographs, relates a nine-year-old girl's experiences before and after she leaves her mother in the jungle of the Brazilian rain forest. She faces new challenges with her adoptive American family. Some ten thousand school-age children come to America every year as adoptees; this book should help their new families understand the difficulties these children encounter. The book is available in hardback or paperback, a quick-read of less than 50 pages.

In Brazil Daiane (pronounced (Die-on-ee) never went to school. Once out of her toddler stage, she was responsible for catching and cooking her own fish and other food. She was hungry most of the time but she set her own bedtimes, slept in a hammock under the stars, and she never worried about what to wear. Her playmates were the monkeys and other wild animals who lived in the forest. She shared a tiny thatched-roof lean-to with her mother and her grandmother, but the family lifestyle required the youngster to remain independent, relying on her own resources. Once in the United States, Daiane became Diana and no one understood her native Portuguese. She had to wear stiff leather shoes and scratchy clothes on her lithe tanned body. Instead of resting at night on a swaying hammock, she slept on a strange white bed inside the house. There was no deep cold river in which to swim; instead she played in a ³box² filled with warm water and bubbles. There were unfamiliar foods to eat, lots of people everywhere, and as readers may imagine, many new important rules to learn such as: don't eat with your fingers, pick up your things, tie your shoes, watch out for cars, follow the rules. And there were switches. She could never remember which ones to turn off and which to turn on.

Sometimes Daiane forgot to be thankful her life changed in so many new and wonderful ways.

Reviewed by Carolyn B. Leonard