Product Description

Mo lives high on a shelf in an airport gift shop. All day he watches as families walk past. He can't help but feel lonely. Mo wants a family. He wants a home. Then one day Mo's wish for a family comes true as a special couple take him on a marvelous journey to meet his new best friend, Yuri. Mo has lots of questions once he gets to his destination. Where is he? What's a mishka? And most importantly, will the man and the woman who brought him and Yuri together come back? Will Mo ever have a family of his own?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68170 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Review
I have fallen in love with Mo and Yuri, Bashista's newest characters in Mishka, an Adoption Tale. Bashista seems to have become an expert at choosing the simplest of words and themes to convey adoption's deepest messages to children. The soft, sweet illustrations work with the story allowing children to understand the feelings of adoption through the eyes of teddy bear Mo. This allows children who have experienced an adoption a safe way to see themselves and their adoption journey in Mo. They too may learn what Mo learns on the last page, "I'm right where I belong." Thank you to the author and illustrator for creating a quality adoption book for children and families everywhere. --Carrie Craft, About.com Adoption Editor

Warm and Fuzzy: in this reassuring new storybook, a stuffed bear and a little boy in Russia wait for the day they'll go home with a family... Through Mo, Bashista expresses the longing and confusion that may surround an older child's adoption particularly during the wait between meeting his new parents and going home. [This book] will be a wonderful addition to your bookshelf, and it's an excellent companion to Bashista's first book, When I Met You. --Adoptive Families

We loved Mishka: An Adoption Tale. This uniquely insightful tale provides a tool for parents and children alike to express and understand how it feels during that wonderfully scary time of completing the adoption process. Mishka's questions are every adopted child's: Where are we? Are we home? Where are you going? Are you ever coming back? It so closely paralleled the thoughts and feelings of our own adoption it was amazing. Destined to become a classic in adoption literature, Mishka is a must read for every child adopted from Russia." --Denise Hoppenhauer, AdoBaby, and author Adopting a Toddler

About the Author
Adrienne Ehlert Bashista is a writer, school librarian, and the mother of two boys, one of whom was adopted from Russia as a toddler. In addition to Mishka, An Adoption Tale, she is also the author of When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption. She wrote both stories for all the families created through adoption from Russia and Eastern Europe.

Customer Reviews

Mishka is Awesome
When we adopted our son in 2003 we took him a bear for that first visit that I had picked up in the airport before we left so I immediately connected to this story. It was like reading our own story. And in 2005 when we brought his then 8-year-old sister, Julia home, I took her a bear that she called Mishka. She still calls him that today, two years later. Anyway, this book was great. I have read it all most every other night to my children. For them it is their story; something they can relate to. It is well written and well illistrated. I would recommend this book to anyone adopting from Russia and to anyone who all ready has and is trying to celebrate adoption.
Bobbie*

An enchanting story, heartwarming in its simplicity.
Mishka: An Adoption Tale is a children's picturebook about a Western family's adoption of a Russian child - as told from the point of view of a stuffed bear. Mo is bought by a kind-hearted man and woman as a gift for a child, yet the young boy calls him "Mishka" - what does this mean? The man and woman give Mo to the boy with a promise to come back. A long time passes as Mo keeps the boy company amid a strange place full of children; eventually the man and woman come back to take the boy and "Mishka" home. During the trip, Mo learns that "Mishka" was Russian for "bear" all along! An enchanting story, heartwarming in its simplicity.

fabulous adoption story from a different point of view!
This is a wonderfully charming tale of adoption told by a different point of view. My two sons, ages 6 and 7, adopted from Ukraine love hearing a story that is 'familiar' to them. They each have their own "Mishkas" that were part of their adoption! It is a warm and heartfelt tale that will certainly remain one of their favorites!