Customer Reviews

When You Were Born in China: A Memory Book for Children Adopted from China

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Members of my family and friends as well have found this book very helpful in gaining an understanding of our Chinese daughter's home country and the situation surrounding Chinese adoption. They feel they've learned many things that they did not know before. I am hopeful that this book also will be useful and interesting to my daughter as she grows.

I particularly appreciate the sensitivity with which the book presents the Chinese culture and tbe reason that most of the children adopted from China are girls. The other wonderful thing about this book is that it is packed with photos of everyday China and of adopting families in China.

If Chinese adoption has touched your family, I encourage you to add this book to your collection!

....Sara Dorow's book tells adopted children, "Chinese peoplelove children, and family members are very close to one another." It does not suggest that American parents love children better....

When You Were Born in China is sensitive and respectful to China, to Chinese birth parents, and to all the people in China who care for orphaned children in China's social welfare institutions. It is a superb book, and its explanation of the reasons children become available for adoption in China is a masterful combination of accuracy and concision. Every adoptive family with a child from China should have this book in their child's collection.

Each page is filled with pictures of China and a couple of easy sentences about Chinese history, beauty, culture, and how kids enjoy Coke and dumplings when they can splurge. Includes sentences that tell about the adoption process, and reinforce the point that the child is loved. Discusses how laws by China's leaders allow only one child per family, and how Chinese parents LOVE children, but ancient ideas about male babies are hard to overcome in some families, and girls get placed for adoption to other loving couples. Encouraging. Primary idea is that your (the child's) story began in China.

Thanks to the misinformation doled out by the sensationalistic Western media, many misconceptions about the cultural/family situation in China exist. ("China sells babies"; "The Chinese don't love their children", etc.) When my wife and I adopted our daughter, we gave copies of this book to our parents and friends to help them understand her beginnings, just as we will use it to explain to her when the inevitable questions will arise. It's a great tool to bridge the cultural gap.

I was overwhelmed by the book. It provides the story of China adoptions in precise, direct, but kind language... the way that I would have hoped to have been able to tell it to my own children. The pictures and remembrances brought tears to my eyes and I purchased copies as gifts for our family to help them understand the process and the beauty of China adoptions.

This book tell the story of a journey similiar to the one we took for our daughter. It also provides a perfect medium to explain to children and other members of the family. Everyone in our travel group say it is a must have book especially for the older siblings to understand where their sister came from.

Being one of over 4000 adoptive parents waiting for referral of a child from China, I found this book to be a very helpful resource that I will add to my future daughter's library. I will simplify and personalize some of the explanations from this book to create her own personalized memory book about China and her adoption.

I found this book to be a positive story with many truths. I take exception to the presentation of the parents "loving" their daughter so much that they want the best for her.

As an adoptive parent of a beautiful Chinese daughter, I don't want her to think that her birthmother was a fairy godmother, or a movie star who will come get her some day.

The truth that China is a male dominated society and the mothers are sometimes forced to abandon the girls due to political & family presure is not presented.

I much prefer the book, "Why Was I Adopted".

As prospective parents of a Chinese daughter, we have little experience with the "explanation" of our baby's birth conditions to her. This book has given us the beginnings of that future conversation. We appreciated the photos, and look forward to sharing it with our daughter when she expresses that curiousity. (We also have purchased and enjoyed "Our Baby From China: An Adoption Story," by Nancy D'Antonio.)

I loved the text of this book and the over all message, I took a copy to China when I adopted my daughter and had her nannies sign it and write messages to her that she can read in the future, it is a great keepsake. I loved the book so much I bought copies for everyone I knew who had or was waiting to adopt from China. Tells the story of many children adopted from China in a very positive way. I like the pictures too, being in black and white gave it a different feel, would have liked to see some color to give China more vibrant life, but otherwise the book is good, so 4 out of 5 stars.