Books for reading to your child (with Adoption Themes)

Nutmeg Gets Adopted - by Judith Foxon

One of the hardest things when talking to your adopted child is discussing why they could not stay with birth parents. 

How do you tell a small child that their first mum simply did not feed them? Or left them alone? This book makes a brave attempt to look at this issue. 

Too many books look at the romantic, rosy side of adoption and sadly, for most kids in the UK system, this is just not appropriate.

It it helpful when introducing this difficult subject to a child. It is not too specific and it is non judgemental and also is English as opposed to American which a lot of other adoption books are. 

Helpful practice notes are also included.

We Belong Together - by Todd Parr as suggested by Donatella  

Bright colours, few words but talks about how they came to be together.  My son used to love it.  

Our Twitchy is another one we've used.

Tom and the tree house - by Joan Lingard as suggested by Peartree

Great for slightly older child who is adopted and the family has a birth child.

Tom is adopted. But he's always known about it, and always considered himself special. His parents have chosen him above anyone else. But with the arrival of a new baby on the scene, Tom isn't so sure he's all that special any more. He retreats from his parents and his next-door neighbour into his hideaway tree house. Now his parents have to show him how much they want and love him, and he has to learn to accept the arrival of a new baby sister. A touching story with plenty of humour - beautifully written and illustrated.

Tell Me Again about the Night I was Born - by Jamie Lee Curtis

Yes, the actress, who is an adopter herself.  It is an American hard back book and features the traditional sort of American adoption of a relinquished baby, but that has never stopped it being a favourite adoption book.  It is a beautiful book with great illustrations and really works as a compelling story.  And it finishes off with the little girl asking the reader about their story, so it gives you a chance to discuss how your child's story is different.

Adoption Life Story Books - as suggested by Trishrebel  

Online story book creator, help your young adopted child understand their start in life.

Adoptive Mum to 2 young children.
North West England. 

Just been published November 2012 by an adopter!

@hugglebooks on Twitter

www.adoptionlifestorybooks.com

jmk says:- Love this and think we should support an Adoptive Mum if possible!! 

The Great Big Book Of Families - by Mary Hoffman

A really good book for LO's aged 2+ to understand that there are different kinds of non traditional families and how you can have a family of just two people. 

Lovely illustrations and it's very multi cultural too showing a white couple with a black/mixed baby.

Website which has a lot of multicultural books.

www.barefootbooks.com

A long way home - by Michael Morpurgo as suggested by Dusty

Michael Morpurgo is a master storyteller, former Children's Laureate and multi-award winner.

This is another summer, another foster family. George has already made up his mind to run away, back to the children's home. None of the previous families have wanted him. Why should the Dyers be any different?

But George begins to feel at ease with Tom Dyer and his sister Storme, even happy, and changes his mind. He could even feel at home with them - couldn't he?

Oh Brother - by Claire Friday

Aimed at children aged between 7-11 years, this book tells the story of a single birth child whose parents decide to adopt another child.

Tom is ten years old. This is his story of what happens after his parents decide to adopt another child.
Follow Tom and share his hopes, fears, and expectations during the approval and matching process, and see how his family’s life changes after the arrival of his new brother Billy.

Oh Brother! has been written to help birth children understand the realities of life with an adopted sibling.

What to do when you worry too much - by Dawn Huebner

A book for children who have anxiety or worry too much

Review :-

I am 11 years old.
Since the age of 9 I have been suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This has made me feel anxious most of the time and I've struggled to enjoy fun family activities. This feels horrible and I wish I could change the past. I can't, I just have to change the future. Me and my parents have really struggled to know how to handle my anxiety. The school nurse recommended another book which was too babyish for me. The top item was this book. We checked it out and read some of the reviews. We couldn't resist buying this book as we needed some help to deal with the anxiety at home.

Since we read this book, my life has changed. I am no longer constantly feeling anxious or filling my mind with negative thoughts. The book has taught me to lock away my worries until "Worry Time" where me and my mum/dad can speak about my worries and overcome them. I am not allowed to talk about my worries until this time or I am "Watering the Tomatoes" which means my worries are growing. Before this book, we used to talk about my worries and anxiety ALL of the time, trying to get rid of them by talking but we soon realised that we were completely wrong.

The book has really fun activities in it which helps me to interact during worry time. My family and I,strongly recommend this book for any child that suffers from really bad anxiety or worries constantly.

I hope this review has helped you.