Adoption from China - Childrens Fiction
Discover heartwarming children's fiction about adoption from China. Explore our curated list of adoption books that celebrate family, love, and cultural heritage.
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Allison
by Allen Say
When Allison realizes that she looks more like her favorite doll than like her parents, she comes to terms with this unwelcomed discovery through the help of a stray cat.
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An Mei's Strange and Wondrous Journey
by Stephan Molnar-Fenton
This affecting picture book, based on the author's own adoption of a Chinese baby, tells the larger story of every adopted baby as each begins its own strange and wondrous journey to a new family. Full-color illustrations.
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At Home in this World
by Jean MacLeod
A nine-year-old girl describes what she knows of her adoption from China.
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A China Adoption Story
by Frances M. Koh
While looking through the family photo album, four-year-old Laura Shu Mei notices that she looks different from her parents, and asks her mother why.
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Emma's Story
by Deborah Hodge
When Emma sets out to make a cookie family with her Grandma, the happy afternoon suddenly turns sad. The cookies are meant to look like her family, but hers is the only one with licorice hair and eyes. She doesn’t look like the others; does that mean she doesn’t belong? In gentle text, Deborah Hodge tells the story of one small girl’s adoption: the hopes and prayers of her Canadian parents, their trip to the other side of the world, their meeting with the new baby, and the very long ride home to the new family waiting for Emma Thousands of baby girls from China have been adopted by North American families. Although this lovely book tells the story of one such little girl, it is about much more than the logistics of adoption. It is about the many ways in which we can come together to form a family.
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Every Year on Your Birthday
by Rose A. Lewis
In I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, Rose Lewis and Jane Dyer told the heartfelt story of one woman's adoption a baby girl from China. These sentiments are brought to life again in this touching portrait of birthday celebrations and unforgettable moments between a mother and her little girl: from joyous hugs for a new puppy, to quiet nights gazing at the stars remembering a faraway family. Capturing the richness of both Chinese and American cultures, Every Year on Your Birthday is a poignant tribute to the growing bond of love only a parent and child can know.
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Families Are Forever
by Deb Capone
Families Are Forever is a heartwarming tale about family love and beginnings. The story introduces Rain, a nearly six year old Chinese-American adopted girl, and tells how she found her 'forever family'--a single mother in America.
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Finding Joy
by Marion Coste
Shu-li, an infant girl who had to be sent away by her family in China, is adopted by an American family and renamed Joy.
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Happy Adoption Day!
by John McCutcheon
This adaptation of McCutcheon's song commemorates the day when a child joins an adoptive family. Complete with musical notation, these verses reassure adopted children they are special. Full-color illustrations.
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I Don't Have Your Eyes
by Carrie A. Kitze
Family connections are vitally important to children as they begin to find their place in the world. For transracial and transcultural adoptees, domestic adoptees, and for children in foster care or kinship placements, celebrating the differences within their families as well as the similarities that connect them, is the foundation for belonging. As parents or caregivers, we can strengthen our children's tie to family and embrace the differences that make them unique. Each child will have their own story and their own special place to belong. This beautifully illustrated and uplifting book, for 2-5 yr. olds, will help to create the intimate parent/caregiver and child bond that is so important. While others may notice the physical differences between us on the outside, inside we are the same.
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I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
by Rose A. Lewis
This story of a woman who travels to China to adopt a baby girl, based on the author's own experiences, is a celebration of the love and joy a baby brings into the home. Full color.
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Just Add One Chinese Sister
by Patricia McMahon
The story of Claire's arrival in the United States from her birth home in China.
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Mama's Wish/Daughter's Wish
by Debbie Blackington
In the first story in this upside-down book, a mother describes to her daughter how she especially brought her from China. In the second story, A daughter describes how her wish to be part of a family comes true.
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Mommy Far, Mommy Near
by Carol Antoinette Peacock
Young Elizabeth feels a range of emotions as she learns that she has two mommies: one in China and one in America. Her adoptive mother explains that although her Chinese mother loved Elizabeth and wanted to keep her, she couldn't because of China's laws.
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My Family is Forever
by Nancy Carlson
Some families look alike, some don't. Some families are formed through birth, and some families are formed by adoption. But as the little girl in this heartwarming book makes clear, being a family isn't about who you look like or where you were born—it's about the love that binds you together. Adoptive families are sure to delight in the special story of the narrator's adoption—from her parents' excited preparations and long journey by airplane to meet her, to their life together as a family. Nancy Carlson's thoughtful, straightforward text and cheerful illustrations combine to create a reassuring look at how one little girl came into her parents' world—and made them a family forever.
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Mei Mei
by Ed Young
Antonia gets her wish when her parents return to China to bring home a Mei Mei, or younger sister, for her.
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A Quilt of Wishes
by Teresa Orem Werner
A story about a little baby girl in China waiting for her adoptive parents to bring her home.
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The Red Blanket
by Eliza Thomas
Tells the story of a single woman who goes to China to adopt a baby. Based on the author's life.
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Seeds of Love
by Mary E. Petertyl
Carly works through feelings of anticipation and fear when her parents travel to another country without her to adopt her baby sister.
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Shaoey and Dot
by Mary Beth Chapman
Shaoey & Dot: Bug Meets Bundle is an endearing tale told from the point of view of one little ladybug, Dot, who happens upon a mysterious bundle one sunny day. Dot stays with the little bundle as she is carried to the place "where babies come to be found" and promises to stay with the little one throughout her journeys toward getting a family. Written by Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth, this heartwarming tale is inspired by the true story of their adoption of three little girls from China and is a story of hope and faith for all families who have been blessed by a "lost little bundle of love."
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Shaoey and Dot
by Mary Beth Chapman
When the lights go out during a lightning storm, Shaoey, a young Chinese American girl, is frightened until Dot the ladybug reminds her of God's protection.
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Shaoey and Dot
by Mary Beth Chapman
It's Christmas Eve morning at Shaoey's house, and Dot, the ladybug, is all aflutter. But when the excited little girlbug goes to wake her human friend, she realizes that something is not quite right. Shaoey's cheeks are bright red and her forehead is too hot to set foot on! Shaoey can't be sick! There's too much to do! Never to give up, the determined little bug slips on her red Christmas boots and heads out to pick up all of the required elements to make a happy Christmas for her friend. Yet, when the frustrated Dot returns, a little miracle teaches them all that sprinkled cookies and big presents--however nice--are not what truly makes Christmas special. This endearing story, from Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, is a wonderful reminder of the miraculous love that makes every Christmas a special one.
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Three Names of Me
by Mary Cummings
Ada has three names. Wang Bin is what the caregivers called her at her Chinese orphanage. Ada is the name her American parents gave her. And there is a third name, a name the infant Ada only heard whispered by her Chinese mother.
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Waiting for May
by Janet Morgan Stoeke
A young boy looks forward to the day when a new sister, who will be adopted from China, joins his family.
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We See the Moon
by Carrie A. Kitze
Opening the adoption dialogue at an early age, this picture book is told from a child's perspective and allows the questions in an adopted child's heart to be asked and discussed by creating the foundation for conversations to come.
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The White Swan Express
by Jean Davies Okimoto
Across North America, people in four different homes prepare for a special trip to China, while four baby girls in China await their new adoptive parents, including a lesbian couple.