From the Back Cover: It’s okay to be adopted. It’s okay to have wheels. It’s okay to have big ears. It’s okay to be different.

From the Back Cover: Its Time To Let You Know is a story about a birthmother’s love for her child. Author, Beth Riedler, tells her heartfelt story about giving her child away through adoption. “When you were two days old, I had the chance to hold you in my arms. Most mothers would have done it, if only to keep their new baby warm. Why didn’t I pick you up? Well, it’s time to let you know.”

The illustrations seen in It’s Time To Let You Know were drawn by very special people. The story was read to various groups of students who then drew pictures to match their feelings about the lines of the book. These drawings allowed individuals to express themselves in ways which opened doors to understanding and healing. From the 250 drawings submitted, we selected 27 drawings to be part of this book. It was very difficult to limit the selections, so we decided to publish all of the pictures in the back of this book.

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About the Author: Beth Riedler has a Bachelors degree in English and a Masters degree in Adult Education. She has worked in Human Resources for over ten years. Currently she is a trainer of instructors for Global Relationship Centers, Inc. She has dedicated her life to increasing understanding between people and enhancing the satisfaction available in their lives.

Left outside the iron gates of a Midwestern orphanage, an infant is found crawling in the snow among the dead leaves of the ivy that climbed the brick walls that surrounded the huge mansion that was now The Iowa Home for Foundlings. It was during the hardships of The Great Depression when many children were left abandoned in institutions. Most of the children left at this particular home would be eventually reclaimed. Some were left for adoption, and a few would become “keepers.” Lacking official court papers the baby girl found that cold snow covered December night wrapped in an old flannel shirt and wearing a feed sack for a diaper, was deemed to be one of their “keepers.” This is Ivy’s story.

This is not a book about Jesus. It is a book about celebrated people who were adopted. It’s for all of us who wonder: Can I make it? Do I have value? Do I have a future?

You’re not alone. You do have a future. It’s in your hands.

Jesus Was Adopted should be read by every boy and girl, every teenager, every young adult—but especially those who have been or are being raised by one or more adults who are not their natural parents.

Understanding, hope and belief in the possibilities flow as each story is read.

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About the Author: Gregory P. Hawkins is a speaker, writer and lawyer who lives in Utah. He speaks on a variety of subjects from legal topics to professional and social ethics. He has written dozens of published articles and several books. His fourth book, which will be published in early 2015, distills decades of research and takes a unique look at “Aspirational Ethics.”

Greg has been active in the political arena having run for national office twice. He was elected as the Salt Lake County Auditor from 2010 to 2014. He continues to have an intense interest in law and public policy.

Among his great passions are his wife, the former Arlene van der Beek, who was born in New Zealand and recently took the oath of Citizenship of the United States, his family of wonderful children and grandchildren and his optimism born of faith and hope.

From the Dust Jacket: When First Lady Varina Davis saw a five-year-old Jim Limber being beaten in the street by his guardian, she intervened. When it became clear that the man would not cease his whipping, she decided then and there to put an end to Jim’s suffering–she took him home with her!

Jefferson Davis registered Jim as a free black child and became Jim’s legal guardian. Jim was treated as a child of the Davises and began a new life as a safe and free boy in the Confederate White House, where he enjoyed the happiest years of his life.

When the Yankee armies attacked Richmond in 1865, they arrested Jefferson Davis, place the family under house arrest, and kidnapped Jim Limber. They took Jim north and claimed that the scars he received under the hand of his cruel guardian were caused by Jefferson Davis! Although Jim tried to argue against these lies, no one believed him.

Once Jefferson Davis was released from prison, he wrote to people he knew in the North and sent letters to newspapers asking for Jim’s whereabouts, but the boy had disappeared. Although the Davis family searched for him for many years, they never found the orphan they had cared for and loved so dearly.

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About the Author: Rickey Pittman, 1998 grand prize winner of the prestigious Ernest Hemingway Short Story Competition, is an active member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is also a Civil War reenactor, a public speaker, and a musician who travels and performs original and Civil War-period music. He is the author of Stories of the Confederate South, published by Pelican.

Illustrator Judith Hierstein resides in Tucson, Arizona, where she teaches digital and video arts at the high-school level. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Iowa and is the illustrator of Pelican’s Toby Belfer Series and The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving from A to Z.

From the Publisher: In exuberant verse and stirring pictures, Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson create an extraordinary portrait for young people of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine’s powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.

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About the Author: Patricia Hruby Powell danced throughout the Americas and Europe with her dance company, One Plus One, before becoming a writer of children’s books. She lives in Champaign, Illinois.

Christian Robinson, formerly at Pixar Studios and Sesame Street Workshop, lives in San Francisco.

Karli feels lucky because she shares her life with the wonderful dogs and cats that her mother has rescued. Mom feels even luckier because she, in a very personal way, has been rescued by her daughter, Karli, whom she adopted from Guatemala. Karli’s real life photographs and experiences are revealed in this children’s book.

From the Dust Jacket: Every year one million girls between the ages of fifteen and nineteen become pregnant. The vast majority of these pregnancies are unplanned and unwanted. For 14 percent of these teens a painful decision is taken out of their hands—they have a miscarriage. But for the rest it is a traumatic time when many far-reaching choices must be made.

The use of case histories dramatizes the personal and human story behind these statistics. Focusing on the actual experiences of young women and their attitudes toward sexuality, pregnancy, birth control, abortion, and the role of the father—this book gives the reader an understanding of the issues involved in teen pregnancy. The author’s tone is never preachy and her straight-talking style encourages young people to take charge of their lives. She speaks to them about the emotional aspects of the subject and provides the factual information they need to make crucial decisions.

An introductory overview of teenage sexual conduct and pregnancy, in cultural and historical terms, gives perspective to her interview material and her discussion of contemporary mores and practices. The topics covered in the chapters include among others: the special health risks associated with teenage pregnancy, the alternatives of abortion and putting the child up for adoption, and the special problems of a teenager raising her child alone.

This sensitive book aims at aiding and guiding young people growing up in today’s increasingly permissive and perhaps puzzling society.

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About the Author: Janet Bode has lived and worked in the United States, Europe, and Mexico. After receiving a degree in English from the University of Maryland she taught school, served as a community organizer, and was a public relations/program director. Then she concentrated on a writing career.

Her previous major publications include View From Another Closet and a book for adult readers about rape, Fighting Back as well as a young adult title on the subject for Franklin Watts: Rape: Preventing It: Coping with the Medical, Legal, and Emotional Aftermath. She has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, spoken before civic groups, and was an active participant with an anti-rape organization. The author resides in San Francisco.

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Compiler’s Note: See also, the author’s follow-up volume, Kids Still Having Kids: People Talk About Teen Pregnancy (1992).

Kids are important. They need safe places to live, and safe places to play. For some kids, this means living with foster parents. In simple words and full-color illustrations, this book explains why some kids move to foster homes, what foster parents do, and ways kids might feel during foster care. Children often believe that they are in foster care because they are “bad.” This book makes it clear that the troubles in their lives are not their fault; the message throughout is one of hope and support. Includes resources and information for parents, foster parents, social workers, counselors, and teachers. About the Author: Julie Nelson is passionately committed to supporting society’s most highly stressed children. She is a teacher and home visitor for the Families Together Preschool, a nonprofit early intervention program, and an instructor at the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development.

From the Dust Jacket: In this compelling revision of Kids Still Having Kids: People Talk about Teen Pregnancy, an NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, Janet Bode presents the problems and challenges of teenage pregnancy. Incorporating interviews with pregnant teenagers, their boyfriends, their families, health-care workers, and counselors, Bode presents an honest look at one of today’s most controversial issues.

Bode begins by discussing sex and its appeal to teenagers. She talks to girls who have had intercourse to please their boyfriends and to girls who thought they’d escape any ramifications for their actions. She talks about virginity, then focuses on one of the possible consequences of sex—a surprise pregnancy.

Throughout her interviews, Bode has the teenagers talk about choosing abortions or opting for adoption, dealing with miscarriages or becoming a parent. These adolescents describe the emotions they feel, the contusion they experience in making their choices, and the hopes they have for their futures.

As readers experience the teenagers’ stories in their own voices, they will learn about the homes from which these young people come. Their backgrounds range from bleak years in abusive families to coming of age rich in love, support and understanding. But regardless their circumstances, they find themselves forced to grow up fast if they choose parenting. Some of these real-life tales are heartbreaking with little chance for happy endings. Others, though, are full of promise.

This book is an invaluable text for the many young men and women who find themselves making choices about sexual activity and the too-often resultant pregnancies. It will also serve those doing research on the subject, as well as adults who wish to understand the situation from the perspective of teens. Resources include toll-free numbers of organizations to contact for help, a teachers’ guide, and a bibliography.

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About the Author: Janet Bode’s titles, including Beating the Odds, Voices of Rape, and Heartbreak and Roses, have received numerous best-book awards from such groups as the American Library Association, the International Reading Association and the National Council for Social Studies. Different Worlds: Interracial and Cross-Cultural Dating, which inspired a CBS-TV Schoolbreak Special, was a finalist for the NAACP Humanitas Award and a nominee for four daytime Emmies. The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live and 20/20 are just a few of the programs on which Bode has appeared to discuss today’s issues.

Reporter/cartoonist Stan Mack has written and illustrated more than 15 children’s books, contributed regularly to such publications as The New York Times, Natural History Magazine and Print, and created weekly strips for the Village Voice and Adweek magazine. His latest book-length titles are: Stan Mack’s Real Life American Revolution and The Story of the Jews: A 4,000 Year Adventure.

Ida Marx Blue Spruce is a cartoonist/illustrator whose work has appeared in a variety of publications, among them The New Yorker, The New Asian Times, Fantagraphics and the books Mind Riot: Coming of Age in Comix and Voices of Rape (revised edition).

From the Dust Jacket: Mama and I climbed aboard. I waved to Papa until he was only a tiny speck in the distance. The train turned a curve, and he was gone.

Ollie Levy was born in Germany in 1927, when Jews were part of the fabric of European society. Her father, who had been honored as a German soldier in World War I, was a children’s book publisher in Stuttgart; her family was prosperous and influential.

But on November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht, the family recognized what the Third Reich meant for Jews. They arranged for their children to be part of the Kindertransport operation: Ollie was sent away, by train, to far-off England, where she spoke not a word of the language, and knew no one.

This powerful autobiographical story shows a side of the war few children (or adults) have seen. It covers Olga’s six difficult years in England—full of prejudice in their own way—and ends with the author’s immigration to the United States and reunion with her parents in 1945.

Poignant and unsentimental, Kindertransport is a very personal testament to one young girl’s struggles in wartime.

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About the Author: Olga Levy Drucker, who has made her home in the United States since 1945, lives with her family in Long Island, New York.

I asked myself why I came here to this wretched place. Why did I surround myself with death, insanity and decay? Like everyone else who dwelled there, I had been discarded. I had no choice, nowhere else to go. Kindred is a literary portrait of the difficulties author Fatimah Broxton faced as a young girl who grows up feeling like an outsider in her own family. The product of a drug-addicted biological mother and a ruthless adopted mother, differences in bloodlines and emotional sensibilities make for the near destruction of a fragile girl’s self-esteem. A childhood filled with abuse leads to eating disorders, nightmares, and thoughts of suicide. The only bright spot in her life is the happy, sweet, and, above all, religious grandmother, who brings some sense of normalcy. From being beaten with broom handles and whipped with the branches of a forsythia bush to becoming a talented young writer, Broxton’s life makes for a chaotic blend of self-hatred, emotional longing, and an unexplainable will to triumph. The stories in Kindred illuminate the miracle of the human capability to love and forgive despite the brutal treatment from the one person Broxton loves most—her mother.

From the Back Cover: What is kinship care? How is being looked after in kinship care different to being adopted or fostered? Who can be a kinship carer, and how can they be chosen?

This short booklet provides an explanation of “kin” and explores why some children live in kinship care and what is special about it. It addresses questions about kinship care like: who is in charge? Who makes the rules? And how long does kinship care last?

Vividly illustrated and clearly set out, this guide also has an interactive approach, to help children better understand their feelings and what kinship care means.

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By the Same Author: Keeping the Doors Open: A Review of Post-Adoption Services (1988); See You Soon: Contact with Children Looked After by Local Authorities (1995); Taking Extra Care: Respite, Shared and Permanent Care for Children with Disabilities (with Ailie Kerrane; 1997); Whatever Happened to Adam?: Stories of Disabled People Who Were Adopted or Fostered (1998); Staying Connected: Managing Contact Arrangements in Adoption (2002); Models of Adoption Support: What Works and What Doesn’t (2003); What Happens in Court? (with Mary Lane; 2004); Related by Adoption: A Handbook for Grandparents and Other Relatives (2004); What Is Contact?: A Guide for Children (2004); Life Story Work: What It Is and What It Means: A Guide for Children and Young People (with Shaila Shah; 2006); Dealing with Disruption (with Jeffrey Coleman; 2006); Ten Top Tips for Placing Children (2006); Josh and Jaz Have Three Mums (2007); Ten Top Tips for Placing Siblings (2008); Ten Top Tips on Supporting Kinship Placements (2009); Adopting a Brother Or Sister (2010); Where are My Brothers and Sisters?: A Guide for Young Fostered and Adopted Children (2011); Being a Foster Family: What it Means and How it Feels: A Guide for Young Children (2011); Why Can’t I Be Good? (2014); and Ten Top Tips for Placing Disabled Children (2015), among others.

From the Publisher: There are many kinds of adoption—and in this workbook the children of The Adoption Club find out about all of them! The children of The Adoption Club are all different. There’s Mary who was adopted from China by her single mum, Alice, who is still in touch with her birth parents in an “open adoption”; siblings Angela and Michael who lived in different homes for many years but are now back together; Robert who loves to do stunts in his wheelchair; and Alexander who grew up with lots of children in a care home. Written for counsellors and therapists working with children aged 5-11, as well as adoptive parents, this workbook is one of a set of five interactive therapeutic workbooks written to address the key emotional and psychological challenges they are likely to experience. They provide an approachable, interactive and playful way to help children to learn about themselves and have fun at the same time.

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About the Author: Regina M. Kupecky, LSW, has worked in the adoption arena for more than thirty years as an adoption placement worker and therapist. She was named “Adoption Worker of the Year” in 1990 by the Ohio Department of Human Services. She is currently a therapist with Dr. Keck at the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio, where she works with children who have attachment disorders. She trains nationally and internationally on adoption issues, sibling issues, and attachment. Ms. Kupecky authored a resource guide, Siblings Are Family Too, which is available through the Three Rivers Adoption Council in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has coauthored a curriculum with Dr. Keck and Arleta James called Abroad and Back: Parenting and International Adoption and has written a curriculum on sibling issues titled My Brother, My Sister: Sibling Relations in Adoption and Foster Care.

From the Publisher: Explains what adoption is, why a parent might put a child up for adoption, and what is special about being adopted.

From the Publisher: Explains why one goes to a foster home, who foster parents are, what to do if things don’t work out, and other matters regarding foster care.

From the Back Cover: What is a foster family like?

How does it feel to be adopted?

Let’s Talk About Fostering and Adoption explains why someone may be fostered or adopted and what happens. Find out what it is like to be fostered or adopted and learn ho to overcome the challenges that are part of joining a new family.

From the Publisher: To be in a family is to belong, but children who are adopted may have some confusing feelings about what that means. In Let’s Talk About It: Adoption, Mister Rogers confronts, with sensitivity and insight, the questions children have about being adopted. He describes the many ways that children feel close to their families—celebrating special occasions, doing everyday activities, and spending quiet moments together. In his characteristically reassuring tone, Mister Rogers shares an important message—the secure feeling of belonging in a family comes from being loved.

From the Back Cover: According to the recent United States Census, there are 650,000 same-sex couple households in the U.S., and an estimated one-quarter of those households are raising children. In the past few years, several states across the nation have passed Freedom to Marry bills for same-sex couples. But even with the rise in recognition of LGBTQ families, acceptance has not necessarily followed. Unfortunately, young adults in LGBTQ families encounter many challenges, from derision by their peers to the embarrassment of being perceived as different.

LGBTQ Families: The Ultimate Teen Guide focuses on the difficulties young people face as members of households in which one or more members are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, or queer/questioning. This book offers encouragement, insights, and resources to help them cope with and embrace the uniqueness of their family life. Teens and adults from LGBTQ families—and teens who identify as LGBTQ themselves—tell their personal stories and share strategies they use to deal with a sometimes unaccepting society. Topics discussed include politics, religion, media, and bullying.

Aimed at young adults with LGBTQ parents, teens who identify as LGBTQ, those who support LGBTQs, and anyone wanting to educate themselves on the topic, this book will broaden understanding and enable teens and their peers to embrace the diversity of the modern family.

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About the Author: Eva Apelqvist is a freelance writer and translator who has written for children’s magazines such as Highlights for Children, <>High Five, Spider Magazine, Ladybug. and more. She is the author of Swede Dreams (2007) and Getting Ready to Drive (2011). She grew up in Sweden and emigrated to America in her mid-twenties.

From the Publisher: This new addition to BAAF’s ever popular children’s guide series explains to children who may be embarking on life story work or already engaged in it, what it actually is. It is designed for an adult to read to a child or with a child and delivers the powerful message that every child’s life story is important. The guide explores the importance of life stories in general, including the lives of several famous people in history and contemporary life, and draws a parallel between these and the importance of the child’s own life story. It describes the actual process of undertaking life story work, including explaining who can help with this and how, when to do it, what can go into a life story book and who owns this work. It also shows how life story work can be done using imaginative techniques and different media, and that it can be fun! This colourful, user-friendly and brightly illustrated booklet is designed to appeal to children and hold their attention. It follows a simple question and answer format and prompts children to start thinking about themselves and their lives.

Life’s Lessons From a Father to His Daughter uses twenty-four stories, pictures and artwork to help teach our children life’s lessons with the aim of helping our children learn to make good decision-making skills. Decision-making skills are often not well taught or integrated into a strong sense of personal philosophy. Human nature can be impulsive. The use of stories (real life or metaphors) to pass on life lessons from one generation to another is at the core of our oral and written traditions. Parents can help to pass on this information as a creative way to install core values, help reduce the chance of mishap, and enhance lifelong success. Part of the challenge is establishing a dialogue that allows world views to be discussed: both the commonalities and the differences. Perhaps part of the failure to achieve a sustained dialogue is that we as parents wait too long to start the dialogue. Part of the challenge, too, is that the lessons have different levels of meaning as we age. So Life’s Lessons from a Father to his Daughter was written to have meaning at the different stages of life: in one’s mid-teens, mid-twenties, and again in mid-life. Value exists in the stories being real. Non-fiction can carry more weight. Children need to learn early that their parents continue to go through what they are experiencing. We, too, make mistakes, that we try and fail, and we are both individuals and members of larger communities. All the increasing access to information may not make decision-making easier. Greater discrimination and better choices will be essential. So, read the vignettes with your children and see where the discussion goes. Be sure to have a few good laughs along the way! Life’s Lessons from a Father to his Daughter is a tool to help parents communicate with their children by providing a context for parents to add their own personal stories. About the Author: Bob Grossmann is a local artist and writer in Honolulu, HI. Dr. Grossmann received his doctorate degree from the University of Hawaii in political science and currently is raising funds to sponsor after school art programs for intermediate and high school students. He has lived and worked in France, Italy, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and West Africa. His policy work and writing stresses the need for teaching decision-making skills that are based on the development of a strong personal philosophy. Dr. Grossmann’s twenty years of teaching and community service, primarily in the area of public health and biological resources, has incorporated community empowerment, ethics and social responsibility. His life’s experiences shared through the book’s stories share a broad cultural viewpoint. He is married to Dr. Geri Marullo, who was the CEO of the American Nurses Association in Washington, D.C., and currently serves as the President and CEO of Child and Family Service (a private, non-profit human service organization in Hawaii). Our greatest gift was the adoption of our daughter, Maya Makana, in 1993. She is an aspiring marine biologist and veterinarian.

From the Publisher: Text and photographs answer some of the most frequently-asked questions about adoption.

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About the Author: Maria S. Forrai makes her living by taking photographs. “Photography is a family tradition with me,” she explains. “In Hungary, where I was born, my mother became a very good portrait photographer. And here in the United States, mv husband and I are establishing ourselves as architectural photographers. Designers and builders hire us to take dramatic pictures of their schools, shopping centers, and office buildings.” In addition to the work she does with her husband, Maria likes to photograph people. “I try to show the reality of people’s lives in my photographs.” says Maria. “I want to capture what they are thinking and feeling.”

Many of Maria’s photographs have won prizes. They have been on display in Leipzig, Germany, as well as in Budapest, Hungary. More recently, her work has been shown at the University of Illinois and at the University of Minnesota. Maria lives with her husband and two children in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Margaret Sanford Pursell has provided the accompanying text for this and a number of other volumes in the Lerner Awareness Series, including A Look at Divorce (1976), A Look at Physical Handicaps (1976), and A Look at Birth (1978). She also provided revised English text for a variety of books, originally published in France, in the Animal Friends Books series published by Carolrhoda Books, including Marigold the Goldfish (1976), Sprig the Tree Frog (1976), Shelley the Seagull (1977), Polly the Guinea Pig (1977), and Jessie the Chicken (1977).

Marjorie Margolies is a journalist who adopted two little girls from Korea and Vietnam as a single parent.

Look Who’s Adopted talks about some of the many famous people who were adopted, from President Ford to Greg Louganis. More importantly, it talks about the many possible work experiences and community activities available for your child. Wendell Rabbit, the turtle who narrates this book, shares the important message that being adopted does not limit a child’s potential or lessen his or her responsibilities as a person. This delightful book invites your child to look forward to the future.

From the Publisher: Owen the baby hippo and his mama were best friends. They loved to play hide-and-seek on the banks of the Sabaki River in Africa. That was all before the tsunami came and washed Owen’s world away.

But after the rain stops, Owen befriends Mzee, a grayish brown tortoise. He plays with him, snuggles with him, and decides he just might turn out to be his best friend and a brand-new mama.

Inspired by the tsunami of 2004, acclaimed storyteller Marion Dane Bauer and celebrated illustrator John Butler depict this heartwarming true tale of healing, adoption, and rebirth—with splendid illustrations and oodles of love.

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About the Author: Marion Dane Bauer is the author of many books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor book On My Honor and the Coretta Scott King Book Illustrator Award winner The Stuff of Stars. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

John Butler has illustrated more than forty books for children, including Little Chick, Little Bunny, A Mama for Owen, and While You Were Sleeping. He has worked for Sesame Street and Time magazine and resides in the United Kingdom.

Maybe Days is a straightforward look at the issues of foster care, the questions that kids ask, and the feelings they confront. An excellent primer for the young child going into foster care, this book also explains in kid terms the responsibilities of everyone involved: parents, foster parents, social workers, lawyers and judges. As for the kids themselves, their job is to be a kid, and there’s no maybe about that.

From the Dust Jacket: Doug the black labrador is just a pup when he comes to spend a year with twelve-year-old George and his foster family. At the end of that year, Doug will be trained as a dog guide for a blind person, so it’s important that he be ready for training. George has to teach his dog manners, how to obey rules and how to get along with all kinds of people, but most of all, he has to give Doug tons of love and affection so that he will be trusting and want to learn. Since George has problems with his eyes, he knows it’s possible that he will need a dog guide himself one day, and he and Doug develop a special relationship.

This is the chronicle of George and Doug’s year together, told as George sees it and illustrated with wonderfully warm and appealing photographs. It’s a remarkable story of a boy and his dog.

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About the Author: Susan Kuklin is a photojournalist whose work has appeared in most major magazines in the United States and Europe. Her photographs have illustrated several books for young people, including the award-winning The Story of Nim, A Chimp Who Learned Language by Anna Michel. Mine for a Year is the first book she has both written and illustrated.

Susan Kuklin and her husband live in New York City.

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By the Same Author: What Do I Do Now?: Talking About Teenage Pregnancy (1991, GP Putnam’s Sons) and Families (2006, Hyperion), among others.

The heart-tugging true story of how a baby gorilla found love in the arms of a surrogate mom. When Umande was born, his mother didn’t know how to take care of him. So, he was hand-reared by keepers at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. For eight months, the keepers crawled on the ground with him to show him how to walk; coughed in his face to teach him discipline; and gave him happy gorilla grumbles to encourage him. But for Umande, something was still missing. Luckily, a thousand miles away at the Columbus Zoo, a mom was waiting just for him. This touching true story about finding a family will resonate with animal lovers and adoptive families alike. Share this book with fans of Owen & Mzee, Tarra & Bella, and Knut.

From the Publisher: This book is written for children so that they might better understand and respect the increasingly different ways that families can grow and come to be. It explains, in simple language, various options such as in vitro fertilization, using egg or sperm donors, surrogacy, and adoption. Mommy, Did I Grow in Your Tummy? shows children the positive results of these options—a new baby in the family.

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About the Author: Elaine Gordon is identified on the cover as a “Mom by adoption” and Kathy Clo is similarly described as a “Mom by in vitro.”

A story of how a mother told her son that he was adopted out of the foster care system as a baby.

A simple ABC book explaining words used in adoption that may be unfamiliar to most people. It is also another way to talk to your children or their friends about adoption.