Book recommendations for adopted children

Book recommendations for adopted children

My family of four is a mixture of adopted and birth children all under the age of 8. 
I'm finding reading to my children the most therapeutic way of helping them understand the world, including their emotions, sense of identity (or identities) and circumstances.
What I read with my children doesn't need to be 'adoption' specific to illicit discussion, in fact I've found some of the best books are more general books about siblings, families, and how people feel for getting the children interested and asking questions, as direct 'adoption' books can be feel threatening to adoptees building their sense of self. 
Moreover, in general, the few adoption specific books in print are just rubbish! In my humble opinion, there's a real dearth of literature taking this angle, especially for the under fives. I would really welcome suggestions of books I might be missing especially for my preschool adoptee. 
I intend to add to and extend this list, but here's some recommended purchases for now. 


1. Snowflakes written by Cerrie Burnell and Illustrated by Laura Ellen Anderson

Here's the synopsis from the BookTrust

And here's a good article from The Guardian about Cerrie Burnell's inspiration for writing

Recommending this as it describes the feeling of being different and everything feeling strange very well, as Mia from the city goes to live with her Grandma in the countryside. Great for dual heritage adopters especially. 




2. The New Small Person by Lauren Child

  This is a great book for those adopters or families with birth children hoping to adopt again, or equally for preschoolers looking back on being 'the new small person'. I particularly like that the new small person is not necessarily a 'baby' when introduced.  

A YouTube reading of The New Small Person

Great article in The Guardian talking about how Lauren Child became an adopter herself


3.


The Teazles' Baby Bunny by Susan Bagnall

Here's a link to the CoramBaaf book synopsis

This is the best of a bad bunch of books aimed at toddlers to preschoolers, but it's too simplistic for children any older. The best feature of the book are the helpful 'how to read with your child' notes at the back, as they suggest questions to ask your child to promote discussion and understanding. Featuring a badger social worker and bunnies awaiting their 'baby bunny' isn't so helpful though, as its chintzy and the animal-substitution-human comes across as patronising to adopted children. My daughter loathes drawing any similarity between herself and animals so she detests this book...   



 4. All Together Now by Anita Jeram
You might have better luck than me introducing this one to little ones, but my daughter hates it, denying that a rabbit and duck and mouse are all the children of the big rabbit. Again, this is related to the animal-substitute for human disdain!



5. But she does love this.... 
In this Batman Early Reader, the Dynamic Duo, Batman is said to have adopted Dick Grayson (who then becomes super hero Night Wing)


6. A good purchase is 'The great big book of families':
My review of The Great Big Book of Familiesl 



7. A secondary purchase to this would be The books of Todd Parr

Adopters often recommend them, personally I think they're very basic, naive, silly even. Again, full of animals not looking like animals as an adoption analogy (grrrr!)

8. A good recommendation to LGBT adopters would be:  
My Review of Stella and her Familyl


Books to avoid reading Newly Placed children

1. Mog and The Baby: my daughter keeps asking why the character Mrs Clutterbuck should just leave her baby with the Thomas family (especially as she's worried about their pet cat). Good point.