Product Description

Tell me again about the night I was born.

Tell me again how you would adopt me and be my parents.

Tell me again about the first time you held me in your arms.

Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell, author and illustrator of the best-selling When I Was Little: A Four Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth, have joined together again to create a fresh new picture book for every parent and every child. In asking her parents to tell her again about the night of her birth, a young girl shows that it is a cherished tale she knows by heart.

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born is a unique, exuberant story about adoption and about the importance of a loving family.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11803 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-30
• Released on: 2000-08-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780064435819
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Actress Curtis's return engagement amply confirms the promise shown in her debut picture book (When I Was Little). A sweet and sunny look at adoption, the story is framed as a much-loved and clearly much-requested family tale, and rings true from beginning to end. Combining wit ("Tell me again how you carried me like a china doll all the way home and how you glared at anyone who sneezed") with candor ("Tell me again how you couldn't grow a baby in your tummy, so another woman who was too young to take care of me was growing me"), Curtis deftly addresses the logistics of adoption in a matter-of-fact manner that radiates love and reassurance. Cornell, who also illustrated Curtis's previous books, again serves up whimsical, Roz Chast-like watercolors crammed with amusing visual asides: a jar of diaper cream sports the label "Tub o' Lard"; a tiny bandage on a newborn's tummy carries the notice "future bellybutton"; a little girl and her dog, tucked cozily into bed, wear matching curlers (the girl's in her hair; the pup's on his ears). It's hard to imagine a warmer celebration of the special joys of an adopted family. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2?While Curtis's fame as an actor may get this adoption story special attention, it deserves recognition in its own right. If the title suggests a blow-by-blow description of the birth process, readers are quickly set straight; the news arrives by telephone. The narrator's adoptive parents rush to the hospital via plane, and any questions about the identity of the birth mother are brushed aside; she is simply "too young" to take care of her child. The new parents see their daughter in the nursery, howling wide-mouthed and oblivious to their pleased and loving gazes. Both participate equally in this tale; the first night home with the baby, the father tells her about baseball, holding her and a bat cradled in his arms. The humor implicit in the text is made explicit in the illustrations: watery, cartoonstyle watercolors with fine-pen accents to show outlines and facial features. This book exudes action and light; nothing here will lull children to sleep, except the warmth of feeling and comfort. It does not delve into the complexity of adoptive dynamics, but simply affirms family love, the pleasure parents feel about new babies, and how pleased children are to hear the story of their birth.?Ruth K. MacDonald, Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3^-6. "Tell me again about the night I was born," begs a little girl, who then joyously proceeds to supply all the details herself: how the phone rang in the middle of the night; how her parents got on an airplane and traveled to the hospital, where they would pick up the baby they would adopt; how they cradled her and called her "baby sweet." Curtis' use of an ingenuous childlike narrator is just as successful here as it was in When I Was Little (1993), and so are Cornell's comical, exuberant illustrations, which have great child appeal. The double-page foldout, "New Baby (actual size)," is a riot. The "tell me again about" device eventually grows a bit tiresome, and Curtis leads children slightly astray by alluding to a baby "in your tummy," but that's more than balanced by the happiness and honest affection imbuing every page. Although this will be a good lead-in to Betty Lifton's more pointed Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (1994), it is a story any child, adopted or not, will enjoy. Stephanie Zvirin

Customer Reviews

Touching Book for All Kids
I first read this book years before we adopted, and even then it brought me to tears. We have several adopted family members in different generations and we adopted internationally. Even though I knew this wouldn't be exactly like our story, I couldn't wait to get this book for my son. Some issues other people mentioned:

1. This story isn't like mine/ours/our child's. This book is very clearly a domestic out-of-state (or at least out of town) adoption story. My response to this is "So?" If a biological parent had a book telling a similar story, it wouldn't match everyone else in the world's birth. It's still a wonderful way to both introduce the idea of adoption as well as talk about all the different ways people can become a family. Our son's bio mother wasn't "too young to care for" him, and we are able to "have a baby", but again, that's not the point of the book.

2. It glosses over the feelings of loss an adoptee has. Maybe it does, but should EVERY single book about adopting for little kids cover this? Since the book is being written about a newborn, what should Curtis add "Even though you were too young to understand, we know that someday you will feel a sense of loss of your biological families and there is nothing wrong with that and we will be sure you stay in touch with her if she chose an open adoption?" It's a book for little kids about Mommies and Daddies being happy to have a baby.

3. I am not sure what the person who was unhappy about the "B-word" (birth? biological? I can't remember) being used would have preferred. Terminology is a matter of personal prefernce for the most part, while we all agree "Real Mom" isn't the best, birth mom, bio mom, natural mom, whatever - we'll use the words our family feels most comfortable with. I thought it was a great way to include the birth parents in the family tree. Your "roots" grow where you're planted, not just where you came from.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is adopted, is an adoptive parent, or wants to talk to children about adoption.

TELL ME AGAIN--A CELEBRATION OF LOVE IN WORDS AND PICTURES!
Initially, I ordered this book for my niece who is just a little more than 2 years old. Adopted by my younger sister in Russia at 10 months, her arrival in our family has been a joyous occurrence. One of the things I love and most look forward to is giving her books, telling her stories, and maybe even writing a book *for her* some day. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis has created a joyful interlude from her own experience as an adoptive parent. This book oozes love and whimsy, and the illustrations by Laura Cornell are delightful to the eye, yet filled with amusing details which will keep them fresh through at least a million readings;) I can't wait to read this story to my niece...if I can bring myself to part with the book!

A previous reviewer (apparently an unhappy adoptee) spouted opinions full of anger and resentment, alluding to "Jamie Lee's obvious bias against birth mothers." I found that very sad. After all, this is a children's book, and IMHO, it was created as a means of expressing an adoptive parent's joy and love for this child, and told through the eyes of the child, it has a precious quality, reminding us how easy it is to teach a child to love and be loved. This book is a treasure, and while I think it's a special gift for any adopted child, it's warmth and whimsy will prove irresistible to anyone who reads it!

A funny and sweet true-to-life adoption story.
Tell Me Again: About the Night I Was Born is an account of that wished-for moment in every prospective adoptive parent's life: the phone call that brings them and their child together. Written in a sweet, easy language that a young child can understand, this book portrays both the magic and drama that accompany this momentous event. I've read the book a mere two weeks before our own call came and read it again upon returning home with our new son. I found so many similarities between the book and our own experience it brought tears to my eyes. It's a book I would love to share with my son when he is a little older. Any adopted child who has ever wondered "How did I come to be with you?" will be enriched by the magic this book conveys. The accompanying illustrations are vivd and happy, enriching the text and adding to the festive atmosphere. This book is all about love, and the message comes through loud and clear