Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale (Hardcover)

~ (Author, Illustrator) "Once upon a time a teeny-tiny baby was born..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

W called this story of a couple who take an airplane trip to adopt a baby girl "an ebullient tribute for families whose members may have come from a faraway place." Ages 2-8.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 1. Bright, fanciful folk-art illustrations set the mood for (but occasionally get in the way of) this loving story of adoption. The smoothly flowing text is reassuring throughout, reflecting the joy of the new parents and ending with the "forever and always" that is the promise of adoption. The foster parents ("the kind people who had taken care of her") are pictured. The first day includes the first telling of the adoption story to the baby girl, "You grew like a flower in another lady's tummy." However, the first couple of illustrations are problematic. On the first spread, a baby is shown alone on a hillside sitting on a beanbag cloud with a city in the distance. The text states: "Once upon a time a teeny-tiny baby was born." Babies aren't born alone on hillsides, and even though this one is smiling, the picture doesn't seem reassuring. Adopted children need to know that they were born like other children, and did not appear magically without human connection. Also, though the text realistically recounts the new parents' first-day nervousness, the baby is pictured as smiling throughout instead of showing a range of reactions to different activities and situations.?Nancy Schimmel, formerly at San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (September 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805050132
• ISBN-13: 978-0805050134
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,314 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this Book, November 18, 2002

By	changshamom (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This is about the best book we have that deals with how we became a family - hands down! Our daughter was born in China as is our Number #2 daughter who we are expecting any day now. I found alot of the "classics" in the "how we became a family" to be not my cup of tea or piece of crazy cake, as it were."Over the Moon" approaches the "how you were born" subject so beautifully that we felt comfortable reading it to our 3 year old (over and over and over........) and would have felt comfortable reading it to her 2 years ago! A very gentle, happy, gorgeous book!

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Adoption Story, December 27, 1999

By	elizabeth beller (Ashburn, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

Over the Moon is a vibrantly illustrated and beautifully written tale about international adoption. My five year old son asks for me to read it to him frequently. The author took care to use positive adoption language throughout the book, i.e. "You grew like a flower in another lady's tummy until you were born. But the lady wasn't able to take care of you, so Mommy and Daddy came to adopt you and bring you home." This is an appropriate reference to the adoption triad. The book describes a South American adoption but easily translates to our Korean adoption since we traveled to Korea to bring home our son. I also enjoyed the author's description of the extended family and community's enthusiasim over the arrival of this special baby. Over the Moon is a heart warming book your child will ask for again and again.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book!, April 24, 2002

By A Customer

As the mother of a 3-year old adopted from China, I've bought quite a few adoption-related children's books, and I like many of them. But this one I love! Although it's not directly tied to Chinese adoptions, the story is similar to ours (we're a 2-parent family; we adopted a baby; we traveled to get her). The illustrations are lovely and the story captures the happy anticipation we felt as we waited for our child. Most importantly, the author gave me words to use in explaining my daughter's birth to her: "You grew like a flower in another lady's tummy until you were born. The lady couldn't take care of you so Mommy and Daddy came to adopt you and bring you home." I just love those 2 sentences and feel grateful to have them. And my daughter asks me to read this book just about every day!