Product Description

Sam has a joyful story to tell, one completely her own, yet common to millions of families -- the story of how she was adopted. Most of all, it's a story about love. And in the end, Sam's story comes full circle, inviting young readers to share stories of how they were adopted.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265547 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-28
• Released on: 1999-09-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In a starred review, PW commended the cheerful and informative approach to adoption in a book that is "perfect for sharing in any family." Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2?Samantha tells about her daily life and her memories, including being told that she was adopted and, later, being shown a book about how babies are born and learning that "I did not grow inside Mommy's uterus. I grew in another woman's uterus" and, still later, asking and being told how she was adopted (a closed adoption through an agency, placement at one week). Samantha is smiling in all of the 28 cartoon-style illustrations in which readers can see her face (except one of her as a week-old baby looking startled by the camera, one as a baby asleep, and one as a toddler intently rolling a ball). She is never sad, cranky, or even pensive. Her parents are always smiling. The pictures she draws are of smiling people. In the five-page introduction for parents, Cole says that "The important thing is to create a loving atmosphere in which children's feelings?both positive and negative?can be shared openly over time." However, not a single negative feeling is mentioned, or even hinted at in the book itself. This title will not encourage open sharing of feelings, and could even be harmful to adopted children by reinforcing the idea that they have to be cheerful, no matter what, in order to be accepted by their adoptive family. It holds the parents to an unreal standard too. Fred Rogers's Let's Talk about It: Adoption (Putnam, 1995), while vague on some points, does show a normal range of feelings. Betty Lifton's Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (Knopf, 1994) includes the birthmother as a person with feelings, not just a uterus.?Nancy Schimmel, formerly of San Mateo County Library, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 4^-7. This picture book about adoption is much better than Fred Rogers' Let's Talk about It: Adoption (1995), which gives a warm view of families but isn't much help in explaining what adoption is and how it happens. And it doesn't have the obvious underlying agenda of Betty Lifton's Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (1994), with its strong plea for open adoption. Cole expertly negotiates a middle course that provides children with some excellent, age-appropriate background on adoption within the context of a slight but satisfying fictional profile of a happy, energetic child growing up in a loving home. Chambliss' sweet illustrations add warmth to little Samantha's telling, which follows her from birth--" before I was adopted, I was born" (a baby's birth is tastefully pictured)--to her placement by an adoption counselor and evolution into a child with a strong self-concept, shaped, in part, by two caring parents. In a several-page preface written for parents, Cole encourages grown-ups to communicate honestly with their children and explains what she hopes to achieve in the telling of her story. It's pretty safe to say that she achieves a great deal. Stephanie Zvirin

Customer Reviews

Good but not what we needed
This book helps parents introduce their children to adoption and helps explain the process of adoption to a child who's been adopted. The story is written from the point of view of the adopted child as she explains to the reader who her parents (adoptive) are and what adoption is.

I liked how this book explains:
* why her parents don't look like her
* covers (briefly) what her parents had to do to adopt her
* explains what an adoption Counselor(social worker) is
* the difference between a mother and a woman that gave birth to a child.

I didn't like that this book is written from the stand point that children are adopted as babies. It details the little girls arrival into the family as an infant and how her new parents helped her through her develpmental milestones. Our children were adopted at age 5 so when I read that part in the book about milestones they were a bit confused as to why we weren't there. I also didn't like that it didn't mention siblings in the family. Many adoptive families have a combo of their own birth children and adoptive children. It would've been nice if they had included that in the story.

All in all, it's a nice little book with eye catching illustrations for a family of three that adopted from infancy. Larger families with combo siblings (Biological and Adoptive) who've adopted non-toddler children may want to find something else.

Future Adoptive Parent
This was a good book, but for a slightly older child. It goes into a bit more detail than I was expecting as far as where baby's come from. It was not graphic in anyway, but would likely trigger questions that I wouldn't want to address with a young child.

Looks like the perfect adoption book for kids, but.....
I bought this book to help me introduce the concept of adoption to my 3 1/2 year old daughter. The story is absolutely perfect - the little girl in the story tells how she is adopted and asks the reader "were you adopted too?" My husband and I thought we found the perfect book until you get to a page which rather graphically depicts a baby coming out of a woman's womb. If you are ready to explain that to your child, it is the perfect adoption book to start with. We weren't, however, ready to go as far as explaining the uterus, and how the baby comes out, etc. It was disappointing because this book was so cute and many childern's adoption books out there feature sort of weird, outdated-looking illustrations. Both my husband and I felt that for the very young child, this book gives a little too much info.