This page is for reviews on the adoption-related books that I've read. Also, if you have a book review you'd like to submit, then please do! If you have authored an adoption-related book, and would like me to review it, please email me and we can discuss the matter. Thanks!

New reviews: "Adoption Healing" & "Sam's Sister"

Adoption Healing

Read author & birthmother Brenda Romanchik's review of Joe Soll's book, Adoption Healing HERE.

Sam's Sister

From the website: "Today over 65% of women planning an adoption are already parenting at least one child. Until now, there have been no tools to help these mothers explain adoption to their older children. Sam's Sister will change all that. It follows six-year-old Rosa as she comes to understand her mother's dilemma, learns about adoption, experiences his birth and placement with Sarah and Joe. The illustrations of Dawn Majewski bring these characters to life."

Sam's Sister, written by Juliet C. Bond and beautifully illustrated by Dawn Majewski,is a welcomed sight for many birthparents. Although written for the older sibling of a child placed for adoption, I believe this is a good book for all children whose mommies are also birthmothers. The book is written in a language that is easy for children to understand, and in a non-threatening manner. The birthmother in the story answers all of her daughter's questions, even the tough ones. Too many children's books paint adoption as all "happy-happy", this book, however, gently touches on the sadness too, making it more realistic. I especially like how the little girl is validated that she will always be the 'big sister', but what I liked most about this book was the positive portrayal of true open adoption; not just letters and pictures, but visits and a sense of a building relationship between the birth and adoptive families. This book is highly recommended and I look forward to more books written for the children living in the shadows, the children being raised by birthparents.

Purchase Book Here!

Pugnose Has Two Special Families

Pugnose Has Two Special Families - by Karis Krutzel: "Pugnose is a sweet little mouse who tells us his open adoption story. Pugnose tells us how he has a handsome nose like his birthfather and big ears like his birthmother and how happy he is to be part of two special families. This is the perfect book for children who are in an open adoption. For children ages 4 to 10." -- From the Open Adoption Insight website.

Many Birthmom's in open adoptions want to buy their child a book about adoption -- but it's hard to find one that paints the birthparents in a good light, or talks about them at all. Well, if you are a Birthmom with an open adoption, I highly suggest Pugnose.

The graphics are colorful, and cute -- and the main character, Pugnose the mouse, is very cute and non-threatening to children. As a Birthmom, I especially like this book because it isn't afraid to say that the Birthparent "mice" missed Pugnose, or cried and was sad at letting him go. Many children's books seem to shy away from the Birthparents feeling sad.

Purchase Book Here! (Make sure you scroll down the page)

One Birthmother's Emotional Truth

Author: Courtney Frey

You can usually tell within the first page or two of a book, whether or not an author writes from his or her mind, or from the heart. Courtney Frey goes one step further and writes from her soul. I found myself so completely consumed by her words, her story, and her message, that I could not put the book down for days. Mine still graces the desk of my computer for a quick read, or reference.

The complete title of the book is: One Birthmother's Emotional Truth About Healing, Recovery, and Sucess. Courtney goes through the various stages of grief that a Birthmother may face such as: Denial, Awakening, Survival, and Acceptance, with such clarity and honesty. For the first time, in a long time, I found myself saying aloud while reading this book, "I'm not alone!" - Which as most Birthmoms know, is a great feeling!

The most profound part of this book is the gentle urging Courtney gives to her readers throughout the entire book to tell their stories, and to find their voices. Through her words, I was able to find more of my own, and come to a deeper understanding of my Birthmother heart. I will conclude with an inspiring excerpt:

"Now is your time. You've read my story ...and now I leave it in your hands. My story does not good unless it inspires you to know your own."

Indeed it has.

Purchase Book Here!

The Same Smile

By: Susan Mello Souza, with Joanne Medeiros Harrington

Here is a review of the book by Author of the book "The Other Mother"

Carol Schaefer’s endorsement:

"To lose a child is devastating, but to lose two and survive with heart and spirit stronger requires the sort of courage that truly uplifts and inspires.

Susan Mello Souza's The Same Smile reveals the depth of love, faith and persistence it takes to create a "happy-ever-after" ending to an adoption reunion. It's the perfect book to read anytime, but especially at the moment in your journey when all feels hopeless."

Author Carol Bird's review:

"In this writer’s opinion, Susan Souza’s book “The Same Smile,” is destined to take a place in the ranks of “the best” in the growing selection of books in the adoption reunion genre.

Susan, a reunited birth mother, takes the reader on a journey through the stages of teen-age love, subsequent pregnancy and abandonment, to a spell in a home for unwed mothers, the birth of her first-born daughter and a heart-rending relinquishment during the unforgiving 1960s. Her story easily carries us through her struggles in her quest to find herself as she finishes high school and makes her way through a first marriage, childbirth, divorce and the difficult years of single motherhood.

Life wasn’t easy, but there aren’t many pre-1990 birth mothers who can boast of an easy life. The guilt and remorse baggage isn’t easy to shake off.

For Susan, it was a second heartbreaking loss that would sorely test her limits of endurance. As if the pain of relinquishing a first-born wasn’t enough, her whole world would be shaken a second time, when, two decades later her beloved second born daughter, Jackie, suddenly contracted Leukemia.

As Susan’s story continues we are brought to the process of search and contact as first-born daughter, Joanne, enters the picture as a co-author of the book. Susan must tell her two surviving daughters about their eldest sister, and the story of reunion and recovery begins to unfold.

This well-written book truly deserves a place on your “must read” list. It is a story of endurance and courage ... proof that “birth mothers are survivors”!"

Purchase Book Here!