Tell Me a Real Adoption Story [Hardcover]

Betty Jean Lifton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 1994

Lays the foundation for a lifetime of communication about adoption with a read-aloud book that shows how to answer questions adopted children might ask and includes suggestions for parents on ways to personalize the book to fit their adopted child's experience.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Pre-Grade 2-A picture book that's a well-intentioned muddle. A young girl begs for an adoption story-not the fairy-tale variety that her mother first tells her about a fisherman and his wife who find a baby on the riverbank or the tale of a king and queen who want the one thing they do not have-but a REAL story about her own beginnings. The unexplicably reluctant woman relates the background and events leading up to the child's open adoption; however, agency personnel, lawyers, etc. are nowhere to be seen. The adoptive parents go to the hospital where the sad biological mother places the newborn in their arms. Once home, they send her "other mommy" some pictures of them all together. "Where is my other mommy now?" the girl asks. "I'm not sure," the adoptive mom replies, but acknowledges that maybe someday they can arrange for the woman to see the youngster's drawings. Honest communication? In open adoptions, a birth mother is likely to leave two tokens to a child-a photograph and a letter of some kind. But not here. There is little joy in the sober-faced characters. The author has failed to find a way of embodying her reassuring vision into fiction in an understandable way.
Anna Biagioni Hart, Sherwood Regional Library, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Ages 5-8. "Tell me an adoption story," pleads a little girl at bedtime. But the make-believe yarn (about a king and a queen who discover a baby under an orange tree) that her mother tells leaves the little girl so full of scary, unanswered questions (she envisions a baby dropping like a missile from the sky) that she dives under the bed. What the child wants is the "real" story--her own--not fairy tales, and only when her mother tells the truth (about the search, about meeting the woman in whose "tummy" the little girl grew, and about arriving at her new home) does the child come out of hiding. Not the usual bibliotherapeutic picture-book story, this has been written as a dialogue. The child's words, set in italics, voice common questions asked by young adoptees, while the mother demonstrates how to be honest without overwhelming a child with information. Parents and children can use the book as a model for working out their own discussion, with the story having special significance for grown-ups who believe openness is the best policy for all concerned. Lifton, an adoptee herself and author of many books on the subject, has an obvious agenda, but she manages it differently and well. Stephanie Zvirin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (March 29, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679906290
• ISBN-13: 978-0679906292
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,836,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Sweet Story, July 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful story about how a child can be so loved and welcomed into a family. I have two adopted children ages 3 & 4 and they went to this book repeatedly. We got it from lib. and now lookig for a copy for our own. It is a great book

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest, February 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (Hardcover)

I read this book as an adult adoptee as well as her adult books. It is an honest book about adoption written by another adoptee.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another printing needed, March 20, 2003

By 

Narciso Bentley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (Hardcover)

Excellent children's book, perfect for children at the very age when their adoption begins to become something they are aware of--and should be aware of. Nice combination of fantasy and reality. Agree with earlier review about the importance and beauty of inclusion of the birth mother. Birth mothers need more of this honest, thoughtful recognition of the struggles they experience. Ignorance with respect to this issue among much of the general public is astonishing, sad, and ultimately, in too many cases, tragic. The two tales within the story also provide two excellent and different models to encourage and inform adoptive parents who may struggle with communicating clearly and lovingly the basic issues of adoption to their children. Not all of us are blessed with equal creative and verbal skills. Models can help. In short, this is a must for all families with adopted children. Alfred A Knopf needs to do another printing and keep this available. The potential market for this book may not be overwhelming, but certainly steady and sure. Thank you to Betty Jean Lifton for a wonderful book.