Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Decide for Yourself --- I say " Thumbs Up ", November 13, 2005
A good adoption book is hard to find. Especially country specific. If I had listened to the current reviews on Amazon, my daughter (adopted from Kazakhstan) would have missed out!
As an adult adoptee and adoption professional, I really hate those feel-good, rah rah adoption books that totally invalidate the complexity of adoption-related emotions.
What I loved about Borya and the Burps is the straight forward story line coupled with fabulous illustrations. The only time my 3 year old has seen a book with ' baby home photos' is in her toddler adoption lifebook.
It was very validating for her emotionally to have an 'offical hardback book' that told her story.
Did I talk over parts of it? Yup? Did I skip entire sections? Yup. But that's because Polina is 3. Instead I wove in her story as I read the book. "You played with the piano in the baby home."
It fascinated her to the point that "Borya" came to Home Depot with us today.
She will grow into this book---word for word. Page by page. She will know she is not alone in her journey from a country far away, starting in a room filled with babies.
Most importantly, Polina will know it is normal to have many different thoughts and feelings about changing families.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cute But Not Sugar-Coated, August 22, 2005
Borya and the Burps was a superb birthday gift for my 4-year old son, adopted from Russia as a baby. Right now he mostly likes to imitate Borya's burps and keep count of the seven babies in Borya's orphanage. As he matures, reading Borya's adoption story together will be an excellent way to talk about my son's own adoption story. The drawings are very cute, yet the story is not sugar-coated. It gently portrays the upheaval of adoption followed by happiness with a forever family. I highly recommend the book.
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25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I wanted to like Borya and the Burps, but it just wasn't right..., August 11, 2005
First a little background: We received Borya and the Burps from a well-meaning relative, as a gift for our two children who we adopted as infants from Russia in 1999. Unfortunately we will not be keeping the book - since '99 I've worked as an adoption support resource, running international adoption seminars, talking families upon families through the process of adopting from Russia - based upon that experience I can say I would not recommend Borya and the Burps to any family I've ever counseled.
Now as to specifics for our reason: in my opinion the book is not sure what it wants to be. Is it a children's story presenting a comforting yet realistic look at E. European adoption or is it an informational book that is useful to adults? From what I read it mixes up both, accomplishing only a children's style book that would only be useful for adults. The information about adoption is presented in such a way that would be extremely useful for prospective PARENTS who are, especially for the first time, going through the adoption process. The book depicts what a mind-blowing experience being adopted can be for a child who had been institutionalized. The book does that with great kindness; BUT it does not, in my opinion, take into consideration its "real" audience, that of small children. The information is astoundingly frightening....
First, our hero, Borya witnesses another baby being adopted by an American family. Borya, as described in the book is confused. He asks himself questions about where did our baby go, would the baby be all right, along with several other questions that allude to his fears and uncertainty. That page ends telling us that Borya's tummy hurt that night.
When Borya's parents do show up to the orphanage, Borya notices the daddy reminds him of the doctor who "came to poke and prod the babies and sometimes stuck them with a needle". Borya wondered if the daddy would stick him with a needle. The book goes on to tell us Borya wouldn't like that.
When the caretaker tells Borya that these people are his new mommy and daddy the author has Borya respond with confusion and fear. I'm not making this up, it's right in the book!
It's too bad, really. I know it's a struggle for parents to find just the right children's adoption books. For very young children I'd recommend Happy Adoption Day. If parents have slightly older children who are beginning to ask questions or have concerns about being adopted, I'd recommend Let's Talk About It: Adoption by Mr. Rogers. Yeah, that Mr. Rogers!
At least the drawings in Borya and the Burps are cute; but that's honestly the only part, in my opinion, that is appropriate for young children.
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