HarperCollins How I Was Adopted: Samantha's Story

We just adopted our second daughter in to our already established family. With two children born to us, we’ve been seeking out good reading material for our daughter that helps her work through this major life change.No book offers definitive solutions or quick fixes, but this little storybook is cute and nice.

I really like this book, and more importantly, so does my 5-year old. The story focuses on the two basic things all adoptive families know for sure, regardless of their child's origin: that their child was born by a birth mother and that the child was adopted. The story is sweet and objective, not overly sentimental, which allows for the parents to add in their own information, as they read. The story is told partly from the perspective of a girl named Samantha and partly from the perspective of her parents, bringing out how loved and wanted an adopted child is. The story also pays attention to the fact that the child has physical features that were there from birth, and habits and behaviors that the child has grown into in the new family. This way, pre- and post-adoption history blend together. The illustrations are rich in detail, which allows for the young reader's mind to take a break from the story and simply focus on Samantha as a child who likes to play, draw etc. This story seems to be about a domestic adoption of a newborn, but it it's focus allows for some interpretation, especially since Samantha's voice in the story asks the reader about his or her own adoption story. There is a couple of pages that talk about baby pictures, which parents might want to be aware of, if their child does not have photos from the first years of life.

Great book for adopted famies, the birth shown in the book is very basically drawn, easy to skip but we don't.

My daughter can really relate to the girl in the book. It has great detail about the process that connected with our story too. But it also has a lot about the girl as just a normal girl who likes and does things that normal kids like and do, which my daughter really loves. She wants to feel normal as much as special. We love this book!

This is exactly what I wanted. Non-religious, explains difference between bio and adopted parents, very engaging. My child can't read so when I get to the part about hiring an adoption counselor I will change it to the social worker who told us about you. When she is older I can explain other ways of adoption.