Early Childhood Educ J (2011) 39:313–321 DOI 10.1007/s10643-011-0475-8
Connecting the Dots: Exploring Themes in Adoption Picturebooks April A. Mattix • Patricia A. Crawford
Published online: 24 August 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract Approximately 1.4 million school-aged children entered their families through adoption. As such, adoption represents a real and complex social issue with which young children—adopted or not—can grapple. Adoption picturebooks provide a medium by which children can explore this complicated concept. This manuscript analyzes a standard library collection of adoption picturebooks to explore the salient themes that arise throughout this body of children’s literature. Four major, yet overlapping themes emerged: the adopted child as ‘‘precious’’, the search for identity, the pursuit of adoption, and the need to establish a sense of belonging. This study shows that the themes located within this subset of children’s literature are broad, fluid and often intricately woven together; a complexity that is mirrored through the same qualities in life. Through adoption picturebooks, children are provided with a terrain in which to explore the conceptual components that frame their identities and are presented with a space to examine the realities of adoption.
wonders where it is that he truly belongs. He reasons that turning his spots to stripes will resolve his dilemma, so he puts pen to leopard skin in an effort to look more like his new family. When connecting his dots does little to alleviate his feelings of confusion, Horace sets out on a quest to find his ‘‘own.’’ Despite his success in finding other leopards just like him, Horace realizes that it is in his adopted tiger family—where he is different, but loved—where he belongs. While this story is presented in the form of personified animals, the conflicting feelings Horace experiences are indicative of the emotions and questions that many young, adopted children confront with their own adoption stories. It is from this starting point that we undertook an exploration of adoption picturebooks in an attempt to uncover the salient themes permeating these foundational stories that help children understand the complex idea of adoption.
Literature Review Keywords Adoption Picturebooks Social issues Identity Children’s literature
In Holly Keller’s (1991) picturebook, Horace, a young spotted leopard struggles to understand what it means to be adopted. Physically different than his tiger-striped parents, Horace ponders how he can fit in with his new family and A. A. Mattix (&) P. A. Crawford School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA e-mail:
[email protected] P. A. Crawford e-mail:
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According to Vandivere et al. (2009), roughly 1.4 million school-aged children hold the status of ‘‘adopted child’’. This means that approximately 2% of children in the US join their families through adoption. As the consensus among adoption authorities (see Brodzinsky et al. 1986) supports disclosure to children of their adopted status at an early age, adoption presents itself as a salient issue that children, both adopted and not, will typically encounter early in their school years. The overarching body of literature written on adoption tends to come from several very different perspectives. Professional literature on adoption consists of two distinctly purposed forms: how-to books for those involved in the adoption process and academic research focusing upon the
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process, psychology and outcomes of adoption. In addition to the professional literature, information about adoption is also conveyed through a different yet related literary mode: literary pieces written with a focal character who is adopted. Library and bookstore shelves house dozens of how-to guides for adoptive parents and personal narratives of the adoption story from both the parent and child perspective. From Schooler and Atwood’s (2008) The Whole Life Adoption Book: Realistic Advice for Building a Healthy Adoptive Family to Beauvis-Godwin and Godwin’s (2004) The Complete Adoption Book: Everything You Need to Know to Adopt a Child, instructional guides, parenting manuals and step by step handbooks are available to help adoptive, or potential adoptive families, navigate the institution of adoption and understand the development of their adopted child. The topic holds such appeal that even A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Adoption (Adamec 1998) and Adoption for Dummies (Barr and Carlisle 2003) books have been published to help adoptive parents traverse through the adoption system. Matching the plethora of how-to guides for adoption is the growing body of memoirs written by those whose lives have been shaped in some way by adoption. Twice Born: The Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter (Lifton 1975) and The Limits of Hope: An Adoptive Mother’s Story (Loux 1997), for example, show the emotional journeys and discovery that those whose lives have been touched by adoption undergo. In scholarly literature on adoption, Palacios and Brodzinsky (2010) have identified three main strands upon which research has typically concentrated: focusing on risk in adoption and identifying adoptee–nonadoptee differences in adjustment (e.g. Maugham and Pickles 1990; Keyes et al. 2008), examining the capacity of adopted children to recover from early adversity (e.g. Juffer and van IJzendoorn 2009), and exploring biological, psychosocial, and contextual factors and processes underlying variability in adopted children’s adjustment (e.g. Brodzinsky et al. 1984). Research indicates that parent–child discussions about adoption should begin early, be ongoing in nature, and be conducted in a developmentally appropriate manner (Brodzinsky et al. 1986; Keefer and Schooler 2000; Komar 1991). Likewise, teachers should be prepared to engage in these discussions, providing accurate information about the adoption process, as well as nurturing and supporting children, whether adopted or not, who have inquiries about this important topic (Meese 2010; Smith and Riley 2006). Additionally, in the past 15 years, adoption research has expanded as a situated terrain for researchers through the creation of new scholarly journals, such as Adoption and Culture Journal and Adoption Quarterly, and the establishment of the International Conference on Adoption Research. Expansion through these new spaces is allowing adoption research to be approached from a greater diversity
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of perspectives, and more theory-driven studies from various professional groups with different backgrounds and research questions are being explored (Palacios and Brodzinsky 2010). While the overarching foci of academic literature on adoption centers on defining, contextualizing and exploring the identity formation, development and psychology of adoptees through various social science lenses, literary work on adoption covers a wide and diverse range of works that cross the barriers of genre, scope and audience. Dozens of literary pieces focusing on adoption are available for every reading age group, and many popular books have focal characters who are adopted (e.g. Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, James and the Giant Peach). Likewise, many English literature courses’ classical reading lists include stories of adoption (e.g. George Eliot’s Silas Marner and Daniel Deronda and Charles Dickens’ Bleak House). While adoption clearly has a presence in literary works, the void in the extant research exists at the intersection of the literature of and for adopted children with how to implement it pedagogically in a classroom. Smith and Riley (2006) established a call to action with their work Adoption in the Schools: A Lot to Learn to help fill such a space. Meese’s Family Matters (2010) has started to bridge the gap with an overview to adopted children’s literature and pedagogical implementation, but a further exploration is warranted. Literature has been shown to be a powerful medium. It can provide students from various populations with characters, themes and plots that are closely related to their life experiences (Craft Al-Hazza and Bucher 2008; Crawford 1993), it can serve as a viable tool for addressing challenging topics in the classroom (Muhammad 1993; Dietrich and Ralph 1995), and it can offer rich opportunities for understanding others’ cultural surroundings, insights, traditions and beliefs (Harper and Brand 2010; Hefflin and Barksdale-Ladd 2001; Yokota 1993). Botelho and Rudman (2009) poignantly remind us that children require mirrors to reflect their own experiences and windows to view differences, and it is from this perspective that we explore picturebooks of and for adopted children in order to develop a greater recognition and understanding of not only the content of these books, but also how they can be conceptualized within a classroom setting.
Methodology The field of literature for adopted children holds a vast array of books. The focus here is limited to picturebooks written on the subject of adoption. As the volume of books on this topic continues to grow, this examination of the literature did not seek to perform a comprehensive review
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of all picturebooks focusing upon adoption. Rather, this research is based upon a sampling of the adoption picturebooks a reader might typically find at a community library. For the purposes of this research, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system was utilized. The library’s children collection includes materials and resources that reflect a variety of political, economic, religious, social, and minority issues, and the library actively supports and adds books from various points of view to its collection so that topics may be explored from a variety of perspectives (Carngie Library 2011). An electronic search identified 42 picturebooks using the search terms ‘‘adoption’’ and ‘‘picture books/picturebooks’’. Each author read the first five books of the set to identify key characteristics of the books and locate salient patterns and themes. Utilizing grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Strauss 1987; Strauss and Corbin 1990) to inductively locate themes within our corpus of data, we established a coding system to systematically catalogue each of the books. Each book in the collection was then read and coded by each of the authors, and the authors then discussed the coding and themes derived from each picturebook. Disagreements were few, minor and easily reconciled through discussion. From this review of the picture books, several key themes were identified: the adopted child as ‘‘precious,’’ the search for identity, the pursuit of adoption, and the need to establish a sense of belonging.
Themes in the Literature The multiple themes that emerged through reading the collection of picturebooks were often interwoven throughout the books: multiple themes were routinely found in each picturebook, and the vast majority of the books we reviewed contained many of the identified themes. (See Table 1 for an overview of the reviewed picturebooks, a brief synoposis and their related themes.) While these themes are fluid and overlapping, they serve as a basis for this exploration of adoption in children’s picturebooks. For each of the themes identified, representative books are presented, relevant professional literature is reviewed, and recommendations for practical application are introduced.
The ‘‘Precious’’ Child The most prominent theme that arose throughout many of the picturebooks is the idea that the adopted child holds a ‘‘special’’ or ‘‘precious’’ status. In these books, authors make deliberate efforts to illustrate the significance of the adopted child not only as a person, but also within the framework of the newly formed family. As Meese (2010)
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expounds, the theme of the ‘‘precious child’’ is a significant trend throughout adoption picturebooks. This theme hinges itself closely upon the issue of telling a child of his or her adoption. As Brodzinsky et al. (1986) explains, past practice of not telling children about their adoptions is no longer considered ideal. Rather, the more relevant question is not if the adoption should be disclosed to the child, but when, what and how (Brodzinsky et al. 1986 p. 207). For those parents opting to tell their children about adoption at a young age, highlighting the cherished and valued nature of the adopted child serves as a primary means by which to help the child develop an understanding of adoption in a non-threatening and positive manner. Several picturebooks clearly demonstrate the theme of the ‘‘precious child.’’ In We Wanted You (Rosenberg 2002), The Day We Met You (Koehler 1990) and The Red Blanket, parents share the story of how they waited and prepared for the baby that they so dearly wanted. Key to the story line of each of these picturebooks is the emphasis placed on how valuable each family considers the adopted child and how the adoption makes the family more complete. Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born (Curtis 1996) similarly depicts the story of a young child’s adoption, but in this story, it is a young girl who asks her parents to recount the cherished family story about her birth and adoption into the family. Other stories, such as The Sea Chest (Buzzeo 2002) take a more storybook like quality to relate the tale of adoption by couching the adoption story in the wider net of an adventure tale. Regardless of how the stories of adoption picturebooks are framed, the theme of the ‘‘precious child’’ can be seen throughout much of the literature. The notion of the ‘‘precious’’ child provides an anchor for the stories and creates a platform by which the significance of adoption in the lives of young children can be addressed. These stories emphasize for young, adopted children how cherished they are and how much they are wanted by their adopted family; both significant aspects adopted parents want their children to understand as they begin to grapple with the difficult and often unsettling questions of why their birth families did not keep them to raise themselves. The use of picturebooks with this thematic structure provides a safe and nurturing platform for adults to introduce a tough and complex issue to children. Within the context of the classroom, such books are useful for teachers in terms of exploring different family structures and how all children, regardless of their family form, deserve to be loved and cherished.
The Search for Identity A second key theme found in the picturebooks is a search for identity. Stories in this category highlight the search for
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Table 1 Adoption Picturebooks reviewed Title
Author
Guji, Guji*
Chih -Yuan Chen
Jin Woo*
Eve Bunting
The White Swan Express*
Date
Publisher
Prevalent themes
Brief synopsis
2004
Kane/Miller Book Pub
Search for Identity Sense of Belonging
A baby crocodile, adopted by ducks, identifies with his adopted family
Chris Soentpiet
2001
Clarion Books
‘‘Precious’’ child Pursuit of Adoption
A young boy comes to terms with and accepts the adoption of his Korean sibling
Jean Davies Okimoto & Elaine M. Aoki
Meilo So
2002
Clarion Books
‘‘Precious’’ child Pursuit of adoption sense of Belonging
Depicts four different families and their journeys to adopt Chinese daughters
Tell Me Again About the Night I was Born
Jamie Lee Curtis
Laura Cornell
1996
Joanna Cotler Books
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Parents retell their daughter her favorite story, the story of her adoption
We Wanted You
Liz Rosenberg
Peter Catalanotto
2002
Roaring Books Press
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Parents’ story of how they wanted and waited for their adopted child
The Boat in the Tree
Tim WynneJones
John Shelley
2007
Front Street
Sense of belonging
Chronicles an older sibling’s adjustment to his adopted brother
Bringing Asha Home*
Uma Krishnaswami
Jamel Akib
2006
Lee & Low Books Inc
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Depicts a young boy waiting anxiously for international paperwork to be complete so his family can adopt an Indian child
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes*
Rose Lewis
Jane Dyer
2002
Little, Brown and Company
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
A woman describes her trip to China to adopt a daughter
Abby
Jeaneete Franklin Caines
Steven Kellogg
1973
Harper & Row
‘‘Precious’’ child sense of belonging
A young child reads her favorite book, her adoption story
Twice Upon-aTime: Born and Adopted
Eleanora Patterson
Barbara Ernst Prey
1987
Ed Press
‘‘Precious’’ child search for identity pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Describes the biological and social beginnings of adopted children
Through Moon and Stars and Night Skies*
Ann Turner
James Graham Hale
1990
Harper & Row
Sense of belonging
An adopted Thai child speaks to his birth mother by speaking to the night sky
Horace
Holly Keller
1991
Greenwillow
‘‘Precious’’ child search for identity sense of belonging
A leopard adopted by a tiger family struggles with and reconciles the physical differences between himself and his adopted family
We See the Moon*
Carrie A. Kitze
Jinshan Painting Academy
2003
EMK Press
Search for identity
An adopted Chinese child poses the ‘‘tough’’ questions of adoption
Why Am I Different?
Norma Simon
Dora Leder
1976
Albert Whitman & Company
Sense of belonging
Portrays the various structures and make up of families, including adopted families
The Red Blanket*
Eliza Thomas
Joe Cepeda
2004
Scholastic Press
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
Chronicles a single woman’s journey to China to adopt a baby
Our Baby from China: An Adoption Story*
Nancy D’Antonio
Photos
1997
Albert Whitman & Company
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
Tells the story of a young family going to China to adopt a baby
The Sea Chest
Toni Buzzeo
Mary Grand Pre
2002
Dial Books
Pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Relates a family tale of adoption through the generations
Allison*
Allen Say
Allen Say
1997
Houghton Mifflin
Search for identity sense of belonging
An adopted Chinese girl struggles with the physical differences between her and her adopted parents
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Illustrator
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Table 1 continued Title
Author
Illustrator
Date
Publisher
Prevalent themes
Brief synopsis
The Lamb-a-roo
Diana Kimpoton
Rosalind Beardshaw
2006
Gullane Children’s Books
Search for identity sense of belonging
An adoptive mother kangaroo searches for ways to make her adopted lamb child more comfortable with their physical differences
The Best Family in the World
Susana Lopez
Ulises Wensell
2010
Kane Miller
Sense of belonging
A child waiting for her adopted family dreams of what they will be like
Just Add One Chinese Sister*
Patricia McMahon and Conor Clarke McCarthy
Karen A. Jerome
2005
Boyd Mills Press
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
The story of a young boy and his family as they travel to China to adopt a baby
A Koala for Katie
Jonathan London
Cynthia Jabar
1993
Albert Whitman & Company
‘‘Precious’’ child sense of belonging
Tells the story of a young adopted girl’s developing sense of belonging in her family
God Found Us You
Lisa Tawn Bergen
Laura J. Bryant
2009
Harper Collins
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
A fox tells her adopted child her favorite story, his arrival into the family
Did My First Mother Love Me?: A Story for an Adopted Child
Kathryn Ann Miller
Jami Moffett
1994
Morning Glory Press
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
A young child is assured of being loved by her adopted and biological family
The Day We Met You
Phoebe Koehler
1990
Bradbury Press
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
Parents recount the day when their adopted child arrived
Tell Me a Real Adoption Story
Betty Jean Lifton
Claire A. Nivola
1993
Alfred A. Knopf
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
A parent tells an adopted child about the day the child came to be part of the family
An American Face*
Jan M. Czech
Frances Clancy
2000
Child and Family Press
Search for identity sense of belonging
An adopted Korean boy anxiously awaits receiving his American citizenship so he can receive his ‘‘American face’’
Rebecca’s Journey Home*
Brynn Olenberg Sugarman
Michelle Shapiro
2006
Pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
Our Twitchy
Kes Gray
Mary McQuillan
2003
Kar-Ben Publishing, Inc Henry Holt and Company, LLC
‘‘Precious’’ child search for identity sense of belonging
Chronicles a young boy and his family’s journey to Vietnam to adopt a baby girl Details the story of how a baby rabbit realize that his cow and horse parents are his adopted parents
Mommy Far, Mommy Near*
Carol Antoinette Peacock
Shawn Costello Brownell
2000
Albert Whitman & Company
Search for identity pursuit of adoption sense of belonging
A young adopted Chinese girl seeks to reconcile her feelings for her birth mother
My Real Family
Emily Arnold McCully
Emily Arnold McCully
1994
Browndeer Press, Harcourt Brace & Company
Sense of belonging
A young bear, convinced she is adopted, runs away to find her ‘‘real’’ family
We Are Adopted*
Jennifer MooreMallinos
Rosa M. Curto
2007
Barrons
‘‘Precious’’ child pursuit of adoption
Depicts the story of an adopted Russian boy and his family’s adoption of another Russian baby
Pablo’s Tree
Pat Mora
Cecily Lang
1994
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
‘‘Precious’’ child sense of belonging
A young boy is reminded of his family loves him by his ‘‘birth tree’’ being decorated on his birthday every year
Books with an explicit international theme marked with an*
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identity that adopted children often undertake by focusing upon the sense of confusion or anxiety an adopted child can feel between his or her adopted family and/or culture and the birth family and/or culture. Picturebooks focusing on adoption often concentrate heavily upon the matter of identity as a means to open the adoption talk dialogue and help mitigate the ‘‘confused’’ and ‘‘alone’’ feelings adopted children can have surrounding their own adoptions. The question of identity itself has been one of great interest for social scientists and researchers in the past several decades. As espoused by Erikson (1950, 1959, 1968), identity helps one to make sense of, and to find one’s place in the world. For persons who were adopted, however, the question of identity adds layers of complexity as their birth and rearing parents differ and as knowledge of their biological heritage may be incomplete or perhaps even non-existent (Grotevant et al. 2000, p. 379). The ways in which adoption is conceived and understood within families can further problematize the issue of identity for adopted children. Brodzinsky (1993) asserts that either denial or insistence of differences can prove difficult for adopted children and adoptive families as these more extreme positions can lead to feelings of alienation or isolation in the adopted child. Clearly, the search for identity can be a difficult one for an adopted child, and the struggles told within the pages of adoption picturebooks represent the adopted child’s attempts to understand the terrain of his or her family and how he or she fits into it. There exists an intricate and fine line when trying to find one’s own identity for an adopted child. One common way to ease the tension between seeking an identity and fixating upon the differences an adopted child may have with his or her adopted family is the use of personified animals. The metaphorical use of animals in place of humans makes the abstract ideas of adoption ones to which young children can more easily relate. Meanwhile, the use of animals removes racial stereotyping that can arise when human characters are utilized. The stark lines of different appearance, so often common in adopted family, can also be muted by the use of animals as characters. For instance, in the story of Guji, Guji (Chen 2004), an accidentally adopted baby crocodile, while noticeably different than his duck family, is cognizant of his obvious differences but feels nonetheless at home with the ducks as he is loved just the same as his adopted siblings by his adopted mother. Similarly, in the story of The Lamb-a-roo (Kimpton 2006), a young lamb adopted by a kangaroo tries in vain to become more kangaroo-like in order to fit in better with his adopted family. His kangaroo mother, desperate to make the lamb feel a sense of belonging with the family, tries to alter her appearance to become more lamb-like. The story resolves itself as both the lamb and the kangaroo develop an understanding that differences are only skin deep; the
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love and sense of belonging provided by a family comes from within. Other picturebooks address the issue of identity directly by explicitly illustrating the struggle an adopted child can undergo while trying to reconcile his or her identity. In Mommy Far, Mommy Near (Peacock 2000), a young Chinese girl ponders her adoption by a white-American family as she already had a Chinese mother in China. Likewise, in We See the Moon (Kitze 2003) a young adopted child poses questions about who and where her birth family is. In An American Face (Czech 2000), an adopted child from Korea wonders when he will get his ‘‘American’’ look. Common among all three of these stories is the question of who the adopted child is and how he or she can fit into the new family. These picturebooks serve as a conversation starter to explore a child’s adoption story, and provide evidence to the child that their own feelings of confusion and inner turmoil are not anomalous. Using such stories in the classroom provides teachers with an opportunity to explore the concept that family differences do not impede the love, care and support a family provides. Rather, differences can make families special and provide an added means by which the family bond can be strengthened.
The Pursuit of Adoption A third theme found focused upon the pursuit of adoption. In these stories, there is an explicit depiction of the adoption process. The pursuit of adoption tends to be an emotional one, and with all personal stories, no two stories of how a child came to be adopted ever truly match. While a great deal of the process of adoption rests in home study, interviews and adoptive parent background checks (see Crea et al. 2007), picturebooks on adoption focus upon the more visible act of bringing a child into his or her new adoptive family’s home. The theme of the pursuit of adoption, when present in picturebooks, tends to be focal to the structure of the story. Much like the theme of ‘‘precious child,’’ the theme of the pursuit of adoption describes the significance of the adopted child in making the family. The White Swan Express (Okimoto and Aoki 2002) clearly exemplifies this concept. In this picturebook, the story of four people from four very different types of families prepare and undertake the journey of adopting baby girls from China. The story highlights the emotions and excitement the adoptive parents undergo in their preparations to take home their new daughters and chronicles the emotional and physical expedition experienced. Similarly, I Love You Like Crazy Cakes (Lewis 2002) illustrates one woman’s journey to China to adopt a baby while chronicling her emotional and
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psychological experiences, and in Rebecca’s Journey Home (Sugarman 2006), the story of the Stein family and their journey to Vietnam to adopt a baby girl is recounted. In D’Antonio’s (1997) Our Baby from China: An Adoption Story the pursuit of adoption is depicted through an actual photo array of one family’s journey overseas to adopt their daughter. Other stories focusing upon the pursuit of adoption show the process from the viewpoint of the soon-to-be siblings of the newly adopted children. In Bringing Asha Home (Krishnaswami 2006), for instance, an eight-year-old boy waits impatiently while international adoption paperwork is completed so that he can meet his new baby sister from India. And in Just Add One Chinese Sister (McMahon and McCarthy 2005) a young boy anxiously waits and prepares for his new baby sister, a little girl from China. Picturebooks recounting how an adopted child came to be part of a family are significant conversation pieces for adopted parents to use in talking with their children about their own adoption stories. Being able to show the journey of other adopted children provides adopted children with a sense that they are not alone in being adopted. And as no two adoption stories are alike, adopted children can know their own story is special and unique while not feeling alone or isolated as adopted children. For teachers, such picturebooks are a useful means by which to explore how different families are created and to help children develop an understanding that no two families necessarily come to be families in exactly the same way.
The Need to Establish a Sense of Belonging The final theme that emerged from the picturebook review is the need and desire for a sense of belonging. In these stories, there is a pointed effort to focus upon the adopted child’s development of finding his or her place within the adopted family or community. According to a study by Brodzinsky et al. (1984), most preschool aged children are unlikely to understand the subject of adoption, even if they have been informed of their adoption stories and status. By 6 years of age, however, most children are able to differentiate between birth and adoption as alternative paths to parenthood, and they acknowledge the permanence of the adoptive family relationship, although they may show no awareness of the reasons for it (Brodzinsky et al.). While Brodsinsky and his colleagues’ work demonstrates that a more complex and robust understanding of adoption does not develop in children until they are between ages 8 and 11, establishing a sense of self and place within the adopted family from an early age provides a bridge to an adopted child’s developing understanding of being a ‘‘real’’ and integral part of the adopted family. Picturebooks of
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adoption stories often address this theme and thus serve as a way for children to see themselves as genuine and authentic members of their adopted families. The theme of developing a sense of belonging is a major and prevalent theme in adoption picturebooks. For example, in Twice Upon-a-Time: Born and Adopted (Patterson 1987) both the biological and social beginnings of adopted children are explored through simple and easily understood text as a means to demonstrate the place of the adopted child in the adopted family. The overarching purpose of the book is to demonstrate how the newly formed adoptive family came to exist and demonstrate the pivotal role the adopted child has in this new family structure. Other picturebooks focus on the sense of belonging from the perspective of reconciling the adopted child’s place within the family once the child realizes that he or she is ‘‘different’’ from the rest of the family. Adoption picturebooks featuring personified animals often fall into this category, such as Holly Keller’s (1991) Horace described at the start of this piece. Our Twitchy (Gray 2003), likewise, tells the story of a young rabbit who comes to understand his adoption story after he realizes that his parents are actually a horse and a cow. While the use of personified animals is seen in many adoption picturebooks, there are other examples in which the sense of belonging is portrayed using traditional ‘‘human’’ characters to the play the roles. For instance, in Allison (Say 1997), when the main character realizes that she looks more like her favorite doll than like her parents, she comes to terms with this realization with the help of a stray cat. Such realizations can mark the development of understanding how one fits into a family despite his or her differences from them. Much like the search for identity that surfaces as a prevalent issue for children’s understanding of adoption, establishing a sense of belonging can assist children in sorting through the disorienting feelings that can arise though the process of seeking to reconcile their understanding of their own adoption stories. Being able to feel as though they are truly a part of the adoptive family allows adopted children a bulwark and buffer for the questioning, wondering and disquieting thoughts that often arise when the child is ready to explore the issue, either internally or externally, on his or her own. For teachers, such picturebooks can be used to help children who are struggling with understanding their place in their family, or even school, and they provide a terrain by which the class can explore how each student is integral to his or her own family.
Conclusions Research has shown that quality literature provides a sociocultural context in which social issues can be examined
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and a means by which to explore the worlds of self and others. Children meet a rich array of characters who encounter diverse situations, and experience a variety of settings in the literature that they read, and as they do this, they begin to develop and foster a mutual respect and appreciation for themselves, their own culture and the cultures of others (Craft Al-Hazza and Bucher 2008). As Rochman (1993) reminds us, such ‘‘books can make a difference in dispelling prejudice and building community: not with role models and literal recipes, not with noble message about the human family, but with enthralling stories that make us imagine the lives of others’’ (p. 19). The overarching themes found within adoption picturebooks provides adults a platform by which to help children to start developing an understanding of adoption, as the research suggests, in a controlled and developmentally appropriate manner (Brodzinsky et al. 1986; Keefer and Schooler 2000; Komar 1991). The story of Horace, told in the beginning of this piece, captures the confusion young children often encounter when facing difficult issues. Horace’s plight draws attention to the personal, social and cultural complexities of adoption and provides a space for young children to work through their own understandings and experiences with the issue. Children, like Horace, are often trying to connect the dots of their lives and identities in both figurative and literal ways. Picturebooks, like Horace, provide children with opportunities that help them develop not only intellectually, but also personally, socially and culturally (Arizpe and Styles 2003; Jalongo 2004; Sipe 2007). They provide children with a terrain in which to explore the conceptual components that frame their identities and present a safe space for children to examine emotions, life and the world. As such, picturebooks provide a powerful medium through which children can explore significant topics such as adoption. This exploration of adoption picturebooks has shown that the themes located within this subset of children’s literature are broad, fluid and are often intricately woven together. This complexity and overlapping development of themes mirror the same qualities in life. The broad swath of adoption picturebooks responds to a need for many different stories that mirror and reflect the various adoption stories that make up the lives of adopted children. But these books serve not only as a tool for adopted children to identify with; they are a means by which all children can become aware of adoption and develop an understanding of it. When children are exposed to adoption picturebooks, they, like Horace the spotted leopard, are able to better understand the complexities of adoption and appreciate the special and unique factors that makes each of us ‘‘precious’’ within our own families.
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Children’s Literature Buzzeo, T. (2002). The sea chest. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers. Bergan, L. T. (2009). God found us you. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Bunting, E. (2001). Jin Woo. New York, NY: Clarion Books. Caines, J. F. (1973). Abby. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Chen, C. Y. (2004). Guji, Guji. La Jolla, CA: Kane/Miller. Curtis, J. L. (1996). Tell me again about the night I was born. New York, NY: Joanna Cotler Books. Czech, J. M. (2000). An American face. Washington, DC: Child & Family Press. D’Antonio, N. (1997). Our baby from China: An adoption story. Morton Grove, IL: Whitman. Gray, K. (2003). Our Twitchy. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Keller, H. (1991). Horace. New York, NY: Morrow & Company, Inc. Kimpton, D. (2006). The lamb-a-roo. Columbus, OH: Gingham Dog Press. Kitze, C. A. (2003). We see the moon. Warren, NJ: EMK Press. Koehler, P. (1990). The day we met you. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks. Krishnaswami, U. (2006). Bringing Asha home. New York, NY: Lee & Low Books. Lewis, R. A. (2002). I love you like crazy cakes. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. Lifton, B. J. (1993). Tell me a real adoption story. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. London, J. (1993). A koala for Katie. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company. Lopez, S. (2010). The best family in the world. Tulsa, OK: Kane Miller. McMahon, P., & McCarthy, C. C. (2005). Just add one Chinese sister. Honesdale, PA: Boyd Mills Press. McCully, E. A. (1994). My real family. San Diego, CA: Browndeer Press. Miller, K. A. (1994). Did my first mother love me?: A story for an adopted child. Buena Park, CA: Morning Glory Press. Moore-Mallinos, J. (2007). We are adopted. Hauppauge, NY: Barrons. Mora, P. (1994). Pablo’s tree. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Okimoto, J. D., & Aoki, E. M. (2002). The white swan express. New York, NY: Clarion Books. Patterson, E. (1987). Twice upon-a-time: Born and adopted. Brattleboro, VT: EP Press. Peacock, C. A. (2000). Mommy near, mommy far. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman. Rosenberg, L. (2002). We wanted you. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press. Say, A. (1997). Allison. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Simon, N. (1976). Why am I different?. Park Ridge, IL: Albert Whitman & Company. Sugarman, B. O. (2006). Rebecca’s journey home. Minneapolis, MN: Kar-Ben Publishing, Inc. Thomas, E. (2004). The red blanket. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. Turner, A. (1990). Through moon and stars and night skies. New York, NY: Harper & Row. Wynne-Jones, T. (2007). Boat in the tree. Honesdale, PA: Front Street.
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