Top Ten Books About Adoption   

1.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery—This book, which is one of my all-time favorites, features the mistaken adoption of a young orphaned girl by an aging brother and sister.  Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert intended to adopt a boy so they would have someone to help on their farm.  Although fiery Anne is not exactly what they had in mind, they soon find themselves thoroughly charmed by their irrepressible new daughter.

2.  How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr—This beautiful YA novel is probably the best book I've ever read about adoption.  It hit me in all the feels, let me tell you!  The story revolves around two teenage girls—one whose grieving mother decides out of the blue to adopt a baby and one who has agreed to place her unborn baby with the family.  As the birth grows nearer and nearer, the three women (each of whom has her own agenda) must figure out how to understand each other, trust each other, and, ultimately, decide what's best for one tiny human when all of their hopes, dreams, and goals are on the line.  It's a lovely read.

3.  The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman—I read this middle-grade novel earlier this year and loved it.  It's about Imani, a 12-year-old bi-racial girl who was adopted by a white Jewish couple when she was a baby.  As her bat mitzvah approaches, Imani begins researching the story of her adopted great-grandmother's WWII escape from Luxembourg while also secretly trying to find her birth parents.  It's a sweet, engaging tale about one girl's heartfelt search for her "real" identity.

4.  A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley—This memoir tells the fascinating story of the author's adoption from India by a white couple from Australia.  Although his adoptive home was full of love and acceptance, Saroo felt an intense, burning need to find his birth family in India.  The fact that he was able to locate them with so little information to go on is nothing short of miraculous.  This is an incredible book, which was made into a touching film called Lion.

5.  Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda—Another beautiful novel, this one tells the parallel stories of two mothers.  One is a California pediatrician who is devastated when she finds out she is infertile.  The other is a poor woman in India who knows she can't afford to keep her newborn daughter.  When the American decides to adopt a baby from an Indian orphanage, their stories converge.    

1.  All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung—Chung's Korean parents placed her for adoption when she was a baby.  Adopted by a white couple and raised in a sheltered Oregon town, Chung experienced the pain of racism and feeling out-of-place in her mismatched family.  Her memoir, which talks about her experiences with transracial adoption, sounds like an intriguing and illuminating read.

2.  The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson—I'm not sure how much adoption actually features in this novel, but it still sounds like a good read.  It's about a Black engineer who returns to the dying Indiana factory town where she grew up.  As she digs into her past (including adolescence, when she was forced to give up her baby), she discovers some shocking truths.

3.  The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans—This non-fiction book sounds absolutely heartbreaking, but also totally fascinating.  It's about the history of China's one-child policy, which led to numerous adoptions of female Chinese babies.

4.  Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage by Kay Bratt—This memoir is about a foreign woman's experience as a volunteer in a Chinese orphanage.

5.  Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata—Adopted Jaden thinks he's an "epic fail."  No wonder his parents are traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt another baby!  When they all arrive at the orphanage, they discover "their" baby has already been adopted.  As the family attempts to choose another on the spot, Jaden makes a sweet new friend and comes to some realizations about himself and his family.  

There you go, five books about adoption that I loved and five I plan to read.  Has your life been touched by adoption?  Is it a subject you enjoy reading about?  Which books have you loved on the subject?  If you did the Mardi Gras prompt, which book covers did you choose?  I'd truly love to know.  Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

I don't know about you, but I go to the dentist to get book recommendations.  Well, okay, I get my teeth cleaned there as well.  Still, I often come home with suggestions from my hygienist on what books I should read next and what shows I can't miss on Netflix.  I always take note because I love discovering new stories—plus it distracts her from lecturing me on flossing!  Anyway, at one of my last appointments, my hygienist mentioned how amazing she found A Long Way Home, a memoir by Saroo Brierley.  It sounded so fascinating that I knew I had to pick it up.  Apparently, we're not the only ones who thought the story astounding.  The book has been widely read and was recently made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman called Lion.   

Here's what it's all about:  

Until the age of 5, Saroo lived a life of abject poverty in Khandwa, India.  That changed one fateful day in 1986 when he traveled to the local train station with his brother.  The older boy told Saroo to stay where he was until his brother returned.  When his brother did not come back, young Saroo boarded the train anyway.  No one seemed to notice the small boy traveling alone.  By the time he got off the train days later, Saroo was hopelessly lost.  When he was picked up off the streets in Calcutta, he could not tell officials the name of his hometown or even his own surname.  With no way to contact his family, Saroo was placed in an overcrowded orphanage.

Not long after, Saroo was adopted by the Brierleys, a kind Australian couple.  Subsequently reared in Hobart, Tasmania, he was showered with love and affection by his new family.  Still, as he grew up, Saroo wondered about his birth parents and siblings.  Determined to figure out where in India he came from, he pored over maps, pumping his foggy memories for information that would lead him home.  When Google Earth became available, Saroo launched a concerted, methodical search that would ultimately take him back to the place where his life began.

It's an incredible story and one that Brierley relates in a straightforward, very readable manner.  His journey is truly amazing, as is the fierce determination he showed in his dogged pursuit to find his true roots.  As an adoptive mother, I was especially interested in his insights on identity, adoption, and familial love.  Although his story definitely has its disturbing elements, overall it's an intriguing, inspirational memoir that will leave you gaping in wonder.  I enjoyed A Long Way Home very much—it's a quick, compelling read that I (and my dental hygienist) highly recommend. 

(Readalikes:  I haven't read it yet, but I've heard The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright tells a similar story.)   

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for disturbing subject matter and violence

(Note: Lion is rated PG-13)

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find