All Of Our Favorite Books

Baby
$5.99

A heartwarming story about loss, connection, and the healing powers of language. Larkin and her friend Lalo find a baby in a basket with this note: "This is Sophie. She is good.... I love her. I will come back for her one day." Larkin's family welcomes Sophie but her arrival forces them to come to terms with a secret loss. Some are afraid to love Sophie, always wondering if her mother will return for her. In time, though, Larkin learns to make peace with love and loss. This story of a family's responses to an abandoned baby is told with a child's voice and focuses on the child's role.

Pact says: Holding the reader captive from start to finish, BABY is sure to inspire discussion about family building through adoption and foster families. Highly recommended.
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Making Room in Our Hearts: Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption
by Micky Duxbury
$19.95
Micky, a therapist as well as an adoptive parent (and Pact member!), interviewed hundreds of triad members about their life stories and experiences with open adoption. Her book helps both adoptive and birth parents address their fears and concerns while offering them the support to put the childâ019s needs at the center of adoption. Based on interviews with over one hundred adopted children, birth and adoptive parents, extended family, professionals and experts, this book is an effective and invaluable resource.

Pact says: There is no other book that offers a compilation of first hand stories of families living with open adoption. Kudos!
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Healing Parents: Helping Wounded Children Learn to Trust & Love
by Michael Orlans, Terry M. Levy
$34.95
This book will be helpful to any parent who is struggling with parenting a "difficult" child. The author's philosophy is that a secure attachment provides the groundwork for a child's healthy sense of self, healthy relationships with others, and positive behavior.

Pact says: This book offers parents support in understanding and addressing issues, rather than didactic parenting prescriptions. The information will be a welcome relief to any parent who is facing a child's seemingly intractable behavior problems.

Kids Like Me In China
by Ying-Ying Fry
$18.00
"Hi! My name is Ying Ying," this book begins. "I am eight years old and I live in San Francisco. Like lots of kids in my city, I'm Chinese American. But I wasn't born that way. When I was really small, I was just Chinese. Then my American parents came and adopted me, and that's how I got the American part." Ying Ying was adopted from an orphanage in Changsha, Hunan province, when she was a tiny baby. She tells her story, not only about her adoption but also about her return trip to China and the orphanage where she was born.

Pact says: This books is very touching and inspirational for kids of older ages who can begin to imagine writing their own story... just like Ying-Ying. Every parent will learn from Ying-Ying how they can inspire their own children to tell their own stories.
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One Wonderful You
by Francie Portnoy
$9.95
"You are unique because you are a wonderful blend of both your families." This straightforward, clear and entertaining book talks in language kids can understand about genetics, heritage and what adoption really means. The simple message reinforces basic information in an appealing way. Multicultural cartoon-like illustrations add appeal.

Pact says: We love the inherent message of completeness, helping children from the beginning feel great about BOTH their family legacies. Written by an adoptee, there is no question that the book's validating message will help children feel comfortable in their skin as they process the facts of their adoption. And it has some humor as a bonus!
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Sam's Sister
by Juliet C. Bond
$18.00
Finally -- a book that acknowledges the birth siblings of adopted children. Sam's Sister 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. We are delighted that Rosa and her family are Latino.

Pact says: We hope this book makes it into every adoptive and birth family home as well as becoming a staple for agency personnel to use with their prospective clients. Buy a copy for your own children and your adopted children's birth siblings. Even if your child doesn't know his or her birth family, this story delivers a terrifically positive message. Four stars.
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Shades of Black
by Sandra L. Pinkney
Embraces the beauty and diversity of African American children. Using simple poetic language these photographic portraits and descriptions of varied skin tones, hair texture and eye color convey a strong sense of pride in a unique heritage.

Pact says: Pictures of the real faces of African American children demonstrate in a visual way the true diversity of "black" people, allowing young children to understand that blackness derives not from the color but from the culture of a people.

Shades of Black (Hardcover) $15.95 Quantity

Shades of Black (Board book for younger children) $6.99 Quantity

We See The Moon
by Carrie Kitze
$16.95
This is a story written from the adopted child's perspective, asking the questions about his or her birthparents that are often unspoken. ...What do you look like? Where are you now? Do you think of me? It teaches children to use the moon as a private tool to connect with family that is always with them in their hearts.

Pact says: We love this book! It is simple and hopeful in a Zen like way- focused, refined and beautiful. Delivering the message that all beings are connected, it succeeds in transforming the sadness of separation into a healing experience, inspiring readers toward finding their own meanings. Every adopted child (and adult) needs a copy of this book.
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David's Father
by Robert M. Munsch
$6.95
When David moved to the neighborhood, Julie was afraid of David's father because he was a giant. David, who was adopted, is not a giant and looks like a regular kid. When Julie got to know David's father, she found out he was very nice after all, but still kind of scary. "You think he is scary?" asks David. "Wait till you meet my grandmother."

Pact says: A hilarious story written from the point of view of the adopted child who has to explain to the world about his very strange parents. Every adopted child should have this book because it's the only one that turns the tables and identifies the parents and grandparents as different and the child as just a regular kid. Presenting a positive approach to the differences that can sometimes divide young children; David is the defender of difference, not the target. Don't miss this book.
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Did My First Mother Love Me?
by Kathryn M Miller
$12.95
Morgan knows her adoptive mother and father love her, but she wonders about her birth parents. Did they love her too? At the end of the book, there is a nice discussion for adults about how to talk about adoption with children.

Pact says: A Pact bestseller. Books that articulate the challenges of growing up adoption can be a real springboard to conversation and break through any sense of "being the only one" your adopted child may have. The illustrations are realistic and wonderfully detailed, using warm, clear colors and depicting simple scenes.
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Under Our Skin: Kids Talk About Race
By Barbara Birdsey, Photography by Robert Crum
$15.95
This book explores issues of race through the eyes and words of six teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds. Tad, Caucasian; Rosa, Latina (Hispanic); Akram, Arab; Jenny, Chinese; Jason, African American; and Janell, Native American, who candidly discuss how the traditions of their different cultural heritages affect their daily lives, their views on race, and their experiences with prejudice. These six young voices celebrate the best of our multicultural society and offer words of wisdom and hope for the future.

Pact Says: A great example of how to talk about race for younger children who will look up to these older children as mentors.
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Transracial Adoption and Foster Care: Practical Issues for Professionals
By Joseph Crumbley
$18.95
This book describes specific ways practitioners can work with transracial families to ensure that children develop positive racial and cultural identities. Dr. Crumbley also addresses such concerns as cultural competence and recruitment of adoptive and foster parents of color. Case studies and "myths" of transracial adoption provide valuable background information for child welfare professionals as well as adoptive parents.

Pact says: Joe Crumbley is one of the adoption world's clearest thinkers about transracial placements. Informed by his expertise as a clinician and his experience as a Black American, he has created an important book for anyone interested in the identity development of adopted children of color.
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Over The Moon: An Adoption Story
by Karen Katz
$7.95
Once upon a time a teeny-tiny baby was born. At the same time, a man and a woman had a dream. They saw the baby in a basket surrounded by beautiful flowers and they knew it was the child they had been longing for. Bright, exuberant illustrations tell the story of how one family came together with the lively appeal of Guatemalan folk art.The child has brown skin and looks Central American.

Pact says: In this story, a mom and dad fly to a faraway place to adopt their baby. The message is reassuring, the illustrations are delightful and the text is happy.
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Pablo's Tree
by Pat Mora
$17.95
Five-year-old Pablo can hardly wait to see how Abuelito, his grandfather, has decorated Pablo's tree for his birthday. When Mama first told her father that she was going to adopt a baby and name it after him if it were a boy, Lito went out and bought the tree for his grandson. He moved the tree from place to place and watered it, but he waited to plant it until the day that Mama finally brought Pablo home. And every year since then, Lito has decorated the tree for Pablo's birthday.

Pact says: This book is a powerful tool for all adoptive families, at any stage of pre or post-adoption. Illustrates a family ritual and how it promotes deep and enduring attachments for a child as he grows. This is one of the only books about adoption featuring Latino characters.. Recommended for the home library of every child of Latino or Hispanic heritage.
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All Families Are Special
by Norma Simon
$16.95
Beginning with an adoptive family, Norma Simon does a great job of describing the wide variety that exists among families. Big and small, one parent or two, adoptive or kinship, two mom's or none, she has made sure there is variety and validation for each and every constellation she describes and those she does not. With vivid illustrations, each family is talked about in terms that young schoolagers will relate to. Simon ends the book by talking about the ways families support each other during good times and bad.

Pact says: A very sweet book that affirms the differences between us while underscoring the significance of families. Ideal for classroom use or to curl up in a big chair and read with that one special child who might need to be reminded that his or her family is very, very special. Highly recommended.
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Mommy Far, Mommy Near
by Betsy James
$16.99
Elizabeth was adopted from China. While her mother finds many openings to talk about adoption -- looking at her album, pointing out differences in how they look, describing how they adopted their dog, etc. - it isn't until Elizabeth sees a Chinese mother and daughter at the playground that she understands that she has lost her own birth mother. Elizabeth's mom doesn't try to fix what she cannot but responds perfectly with her show of love.

Pact says: The game of "look" is a must do ritual for reinforcing attachment and truly seeing one another is enfolded in the story. This models excellent ways for parents to support their children when they feel sad.
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Lucy's Family Tree
by Karen Halvorsen Schreck, Illustrations by Stephen Glassler
$7.95
Lucy, adopted from Mexico by white parents, feels "different," hurt and weird when assigned to make a family tree. Her parents challenge her to find three families she thinks are "the same." In so doing, her aha conclusion is that since most families are different in some way, any family that turned out to be the same would be the one who was different. In the end, Lucy makes a clay Mexican tree of life, "glowing with color" as her family tree, with her birth parents and adoptive parents represented and all is well. In addition, Schreck provides models of other ways kids in diverse families can approach the family tree assignment.

Pact says: Because it does such an authentic job of capturing the powerful responses adopted kids have to identity issues raised by the family tree assignment, this book is an important contribution. Lucy's feelings as well as her parents are honestly portrayed and both her parents mistakes and positive steps in helping her to work through her sense of being "less than" provide terrific models for other adoptive parents. The flow would be improved if Lucy's interactions with other families were shorter but this is in general a well-written and useful book. Illustrations by Stephen Gassler add depth to the story and do a great job of bringing the text to life.
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and Tango Makes Three
by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
$16.99
A true story about two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who become a couple, build a nest together and start a family by hathcing an abandoned egg given to them by the zoo-keeper. The book is a gentle, fun and matter of fact llustration of the point that two dad families are just another kind of family. The light-hearted color drawings of Tango, her dads and the other penguins in the zoo are a central part of the book’s charm.

Pact says: Validating families with two dads: this is a must-have for families and schools.
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Heaven
$5.99
"Last night Momma and Pops kept saying they should have told me what they had to tell me sooner. It's what people who haven't told the truth always say...." At fourteen, Marley is shocked to find out she was adopted. The truth seems to change everything. How could her parents have lied? Is her brother really her brother? Does she belong? As she processes the disclosure, Marley finds peace, realizing that her relationships with her family remain the same. She comes to understand both that they belong to each other as they always have and that it is important to know about her birth family and her birth heritage.

Pact says: A compelling book that expresses some of the fears and uncertainty adopted kids can feel at this age with a positive resolution for all.
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Three Names of Me
by Mary Cummings, Illustrated by Lin Wang
$15.95
A book that has a touching overall tone but does so in the context of inviting acknowledgment of the adopted girls history and connections before she became the girl she is now in her adoptive home. In this book, the main character, Ada, is a Chinese adoptee who is reiterating the story of her journey to her adoptive family, "Ada Lorane Bennett. That is my name. But it is not the first name I have had. It is the third."

Pact says: The story takes her to America but as she grows up she remembers her "China mother" and her homeland with love and affection clearly sanctioned by her adoptive parents; what a beautiful model of integration and wholeness.
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Ocean Within, The
by V.M. Caldwell
$6.95
Elizabeth, 11, barely speaks and views her adoption by the Sheridans as just another temporary situation, to be endured without getting emotionally entangled. The Sheridans are a raucous and deeply affectionate family, and Elizabeth is overwhelmed by their noise and their joy. Elizabeth's passion is the ocean, which she has dreamed of seeing; too afraid to actually let the water touch her, she watches the ocean for hours while the others swim and play. It is four-year-old Petey who begins to reach Elizabeth; too young to be deceived, he recognizes both her loneliness and her fear.

Pact says: A beautifully written and engaging story about learning trust and becoming part of a family that has great appeal to adopted girls.
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People Could Fly, The: American Black Folktales
by Virginia Hamilton
$13.00
Virginia Hamilton, Newbery Medal winner and recipient of the National Book Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, teams up with two-time Caldecott Medal winners, Leo and Diane Dillon, in this classic collection of American black folktales, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. By turns droll, grisly, and spine-tingling, the 24 stories celebrate the indomitable human spirit, surviving under the most crushing circumstances of slavery. Four groups of stories: Animal Tales; Tales of the Real, Extravagant and Fanciful; Tales of the Supernatural; and Slave Tales of Freedom.

Pact says: An excellent of stories rooted in the African American experience.
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W.I.S.E. UP Powerbook
by Marilyn Schoettle
$16.00
This child friendly book gives children easy to remember tools to cope with uncomfortable comments from others. They learn to think about their options, and make wise choices based on the word W-I-S-E:(W)alk away, say (I)t's private, (S)hare something, or (E)ducate.

Pact says: Friends, teachers, and strangers often ask children questions, both personal and general, about adoption. This book provides adopted children with options for how to manage those questions. A must-read for adopted kids, written in a kid friendly cartoon like style, filled with practical advice and the reassurance that all adopted kids has to field the same kinds of questions.
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American Eyes
Edited by Lori Colson
$6.50
Short stories that burn with conflicts and choices that occur when two cultures come together. Books in Print says; "This intriguing collection of short stories presents answers as individual as each writer's voice. The search for identity sometimes leads back to Asian roots: in one selection, an adopted person journeys to her native Korea to find her biological parents. For others, the battle takes place on the home front."

Pact says: This book acknowledges racism for Asian youth and gives adopted Asians a context for seeing their own struggles toward identity in a larger context - opening the door to commonalities with non-adopted kids.
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Parenting From the Inside Out
by Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell
$14.95
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and early childhood educator Mary Hartzell, M. Ed., explore the extent to which our childhood experiences shape the way that we parent. Drawing upon stunning new findings in neurobiology and attachment research, they explain how interpersonal relationships directly impact the development of the brain, and offer parents a step-by-step approach to forming a deeper understanding of their own life stories that will help them raise compassionate and resilient children.

Pact says: Highly relevant to adoptive families, Parenting from the Inside Out guides parents
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Double Play at Shortstop
by Matt Christopher
$4.99
Danny Walker feels he is a shoo-in for the all-star team, until he meets Tammy Aiken, the shortstop for the opposition. They're both great players, but other similarities (both have red hair, a similar stance, etc.) make Danny uneasy. When he learns that both are adopted and share the same birthday, Danny becomes convinced they're twins, separated at birth.

Pact says: This unlikely plot give kids a chance to explore adoption fantasies and what ifs in the context of the sports team experience. The inclusion of many great girl players is a bonus.
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Finding Miracles
by Julia Alvarez
$15.95
In spite of her family's openness, Milly Kaufman has never wanted to talk about her adoption. However, during ninth grade, Pablo Bolívar, a refugee from an unnamed Central American country, joins her class and immediately identifies her as someone who might have come from his family's hometown. The strength of this book lies in its description of adoption issues-Milly's feelings of abandonment and difference and her sister's fear that Milly's increased identification as Latina will destroy their close relationship.

Pact says: This book explores adoption and race in a way that will satisfy many teenagers who are thinking about these issues themselves.
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First Part Last
by Angela Johnson
$5.99
A Coretta Scott King award winner, this gem of a novel tells the story of a young father struggling to raise an infant. His parents are supportive but refuse to take over the child-care duties, so he struggles to balance parenting, school, and friends who don't comprehend his new role.

Pact says: An opportuntity for teens to concretely think about what it means to be a parent. "I think that the book was good. It talks about how a teenager's life would be about if they have unsafe sex and have a child. You can't go out and have fun all the time you would have to stay in the house and take care of your child."

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Walk Two Moons
by Sharon Creech
$6.99
Sal, trying to deal with the fact that her mother left her, tells the story of her friend Pheobe whose own mother is gone. While dealing with the painfully realistic reactions children have to such departures, it also gives us glimpses into families that are rock solid in their love and devotion. Creech is able to repeatedly bring up the motif of "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins", without ever becoming preachy or didactic. A Newberry Book Award winner that incorporates the author's Native roots.

Pact says: This great read gets straight to the heart of how children find resolution to the loss of connections.
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What Are You?
by Pearl Gaskins
$19.95
Through the lively voices of 45 young people, ages 14-26, speaking of the shame and pride that fill their own lives, this book helps us begin to understand how it feels to grow up outside traditional racial boundaries. Their views about the challenges of coming-of-age when the complexities of race are part of each milestone are honest, to-the-point, inspirational, and remarkably insightful. Includes extensive resource lists.

Pact says: This collection of authentic writing conveys the emotional impact of being of mixed race in a time of identity politics. The more you read, the better you can see both the common issues they share and the unique human qualities of each writer.
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What's Going On Down There
by Karen Gravelle
$8.95
This book is forthright without being sober or scary. Facts about puberty, sex, and sexually transmitted diseases, and also what happens to girls during puberty are presented clearly and completely, along with answers to an assortment of related questions. The authors also manage to slip in some counsel about wise decision making, though the emphasis is on information, not values. Illustrations are multicultural.

Pact says: Part manual, part trusted friend, this book takes a straight forward approach to sexual development for boys. A particularly sensitive issue of being raised by adoptive or foster parents is that your body type and physical development are likely to be quite different from your dad's. When it comes to body changes, his experience may be totally different from yours. This down to earth, practical and positive book provides comprehensive information in a friendly and supportive way and will provide a broad overview inclusive of both father and son's questions and experiences. Extremely useful!
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Yell-oh Girls!
by Vickie Tam
$13.00
Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American: Asian girls provide poignant, honest, real and suprising pieces addressing topics such as culture clash, body image, interracial dating, adoption and stereotypes. This collection includes 80 brief selections by budding teen writers. Nam presents the pieces according to theme and ends each section with a "Mentor Piece" by an established Asian-American writer on her own coming-of-age.

Pact says: Very important reading for Asian American girls and everyone who loves them!
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Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families
by Patricia Irwin Johnston
$26.95
This book explores the process of adopting as an emotional journey that begins with infertility and takes the reader through the decision making, preparation and experience of adopting. Pat does a great job of looking at the deeper issues and acknowledging the complexity of feelings and experience that are all part of adoption today. If you are not infertile or a single parent, don't be put off by the focus on couples communication and the grief of infertility in the first section, the other sections are well worth the read.

Pact says: Pat is a good writer and well organized as she addresses the issues faced by adopting families. No one speaks more clearly or directly to and for this group. Required reading for waiting Pact families.
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Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections
edited by Jean MacLeod and Sheena McRae
$29.95
A manual for adoptive parents that covers the ages from "birth through pre-adolescence," this book offers articles (most of which are relatively brief) from many different contributors on a very wide variety of topics relevant to parenting an adopted child, with an emphasis on topics relevant to parenting the internationally adopted child. Many of the articles are accompanied by a list of resources for further reading.

Pact says: The book's best use for parents, then, seems to be as a reference tool that will help them understand that what is going on for their child may well be an issue other adoptive parents have faced, and that there is information out there about how to handle it.

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Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self
by David Brodzinsky
$14.00
Emphasizing adoption issues as viewed "through the eyes of adopted people," this book offers a sensitive and intelligent guide to developmental perspectives, normality, individuality, search for self, and loss, illustrating common passages and probing complex issues. Without suggesting that adoption is an endless "wound," the authors do argue that adoption is "an issue that emerges, seems to be settled, and then reemerges at some later point along life's path."

Pact says: Excellent. This book is a powerful tool for all adoptive families, at any stage of pre or post-adoption. Blending theory, practicality and sensitivity, the author creates a clear understanding of the impact of an original separation from birth mom (even at the moment of birth) and provides clear and realistic structure for growing strong families. Normalizes developmental stages of growth for those who have been adopted. This is an evocative but straightforward book that is very popular with Pact families.
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Beyond Good Intentions
by Cheri Register
$18.95
Cheri, the white mother of two adult daugthers adopted from Korea, has written ten essays about pitfalls that well-meaning parents like herself can easily slip into. Each essay begins with an exaggerated version of an adoptive parent's perspective, and then explores the difficulties that perspective can create in the relationship between parent and child. The author's advice is based on her own experience of raising her daughters, her daughters' reflections on their childhoods, and the experiences of many other adult international adoptees.

Pact says: These essays offer a thoughtful, candid look at the intersection between parental feelings and expectations and the adopted child's emotional needs.
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Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness
by Jane Lazarre
$19.95
A mother's recognition of white economic, social, and moral complicity in the power structure of racism. From the book jacket: "'I am Black,' Jane Lazarre's son tells her. 'I have a Jewish mother but I am not "biracial." The term is meaningless to me.' This book is her memoir about learning to look at race in a way that passionately informs the connections between herself and her family."

Pact says: This book is fabulous; clear-eyed, thoughtful and moving. It is not about adoption but is about the experience of a white parent of Black children. Jane Lazarre is a terrific writer and her story delineates a path for the self-discovery of assumptions about racial identity. Essential reading. A Pact bestseller.
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Child's Journey Through Placement, A
by Vera Fahlberg
$20.00
Understanding and supporting the child who has been placed in foster care or residential treatment. This book provides help for parents (birth, foster, and adoptive) and professionals (therapists, social workers, pediatricians, volunteers, and child advocates) supporting children who have experienced out-of-home care. Includes chapters on attachment and separation; child development; separation and loss; minimizing the trauma of moves; case planning; behavior problems; and direct work with children.

Pact says: A classic and a Pact best seller. Highly recommended.
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Different and Wonderful: Raising Black Children in a Race-Conscious Society
by Darlene & Derek Hopson
$22.95
Written by African American psychologists, this book offers a positive and realistic approach toward preparing African American children to become positive, productive and self-respecting. Chapters focus on modeling, racial identification, sexuality, day-care and family relations. Written by African American psychologists, the book also serves as an insiders view of African American's talking to each other about their parenting concerns.

Pact says: This direct and clear book offers a positive and realistic approach toward preparing African American children to become positive, productive and self-respecting.
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Family of Adoption, The
by Joyce Maguire Pavao
$16.00
An international expert as well as an adopted person, Joyce offers one of the clearest voices in the world of adoption, describing the deeper truths that often go unspoken. Reading her book is like listening to a wise friend; she links her personal experience with knowledge gleaned from many disciplines creating that elusive "ah ha" experience. If you do not know her work, we envy you your first read.

Pact says: Reading Joyce Pavao's book is like listening to a wise friend; she links her personal experience with knowledge gleaned from many disciplines creating that elusive "ah ha" experience. If you do not know her work, we envy you your first read.
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How To Open An Adoption
by Patricia Martinez Dorner
$14.95
A guide toward opening adoptions for adoptive parents, birth parents of minors and professionals. This book covers the benefits of opening adoptions; the issues raised if the request is initiated by adoptive parents or birth parents; professional help; preparation for contact; the first visit; the role of commitment of all the adults; when there is inequality among adoptive siblings; reopening open adoptions and more.

Pact says: Adopted children shouldn't have to wait until they are 18 years old to have their questions answered. Contact between birth parents and their adopted child allows the children to ask their questions directly and receive answers from the source.
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In Their Own Voices
by Rita Simon & Rhonda Roorda
$27.50
In this collection of interviews conducted with black and biracial young adults who were adopted by white parents, the authors present the personal stories of twenty four individuals who hail from a wide range of religious, economic, political, and professional backgrounds. How does the experience affect their racial and social identities, their choice of friends and marital partners, and their lifestyles? In addition to interviews, the book includes overviews of both the history and current legal status of transracial adoption.

Pact says: This book should be in the library of every transracial adoptive family.
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Inside Transracial Adoption
by Gail Steinberg & Beth Hall
$24.95
Inside Transracial Adoption moves beyond the debate to offer real solutions to real challenges. Steinberg & Hall's moving personal stories are encouraging and supportive and reinforce the message that race matters, racism is alive, and families built transracially can develop strong and binding ties by embracing rather than fearing their differences. A good read, filled with warmth and humor, this book offers families and professionals insight into the experience of multiracial adoptive families. Whether through domestic or international adoption the authors offer direction for building close, loving, and very real families consisting of individuals who are proud and culturally competent members of differing races.

Pact says: If a book could realistically carry a thirty-odd word title, then this book's might be something like How to Get to the Place Where It Feels Almost Fun to Let People Wonder How You and Your Kids Could So Clearly Belong to One Another When You Look So Different!

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Lesbian & Gay Parenting Handbook, The
$17.00
An indispensable resource. Parenting and Families Editor's Recommended Book: "Martin, a psychologist and Lesbian parent of two children, has compiled advice and information from almost 60 families and has drawn on her own experience. She touches on every aspect of gay and Lesbian parenting, and where she doesn't go into depth, she refers readers to further resources. Martin discusses family roles, dealing with anti-homosexual bias, dealing with family crises, and how to handle issues children may have about growing up."

Pact says: This is a great resource and a Pact bestseller.
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Open Adoption Experience, The
by Lois Melina & Sharon Kaplan Roszia
$15.00
This book covers all the bases, from theory to reality. It addresses both the easy and the challenging realities of living an open adoption. The many personal stories make the book believable and useful for all kinds of situations. It is sometimes a bit dense, but it makes for a perfect reference manual.

Pact says: An important reference manual for many issues of open adoptions, from starting an open relationship to managing the ongoing issues of relationship as they develop over the years. Required reading for Pact parents.
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Spirit of Open Adoption, The
by James L. Gritter
$18.95
Viewing adoptive families as resources for birth families facing unplanned pregnancies, this book defines excellence in adoption by the replacement of fear, pain and shame with honor, respect, and reverence of each participant for one another. Open adoption is seen as a model built on candor, commitment, community, and cooperation. Gritter expresses deep concern about for-profit adoption and the lack of true excellence in services available.

Pact says: This book gives a compelling explanation of the why and reason open adoption is the "best" form of adoption we have today.
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Voices from Another Place
edited by Susan Soon Keum Cox
$12.00
A collection of poetry, fiction, memoir, essay, photography and artwork, created by adopted Koreans after adulthood. Their diverse and unmistakably honest voices cast light on issues common tto those who were internationally adopted in particular and to Koreans who have grown up in American or European cultures.

Pact says: The importance of connecting to one's full identity, including culture and country of origin is made clear through their open sharing of works expressing their deepest experiences. Highly recommended.

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Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria?
by Beverly Tatum
$15.95
In high schools and colleges daily, young people can be observed segregating themselves by race. Beverly Daniel Tatum explains this tendency as a way of affirming racial identity and outlines the process of developing racial pride through a series of predictable stages. Includes chapters on understanding Black, white, Latino, American Indian and Asian Pacific American identity.

Pact says: A fascinating and clearly presented map of steps toward integration of racial identity, this book affirms the need to understand the process and to talk about it. Highly recommended.
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Visible Differences
Directed by Ann Humphrey
$35.00
A 28-minute training friendly video looking at transracial adoption with clarity and compassion. Useful as a training tool for pre- and post-adoptive families through either domestic or international adoption. A thoughtful, provocative, passionate and tender exploration of the issues of transracial parenting through adoption. Single parents, two parent households, families with children adopted from different countries and racial groups, families with both birth and adopted children and adult transracial adoptees share their personal stories. Holly van Gulden (author of Real Parents, Real Children) and Gail Steinberg (co-author if Inside Transracial Adoption and co-founder of Pact) and her daughter Liza are featured.

Comments from the field: "Excellent view of transethnic and transracial adoption and the issues involved. It looks at adoptions with clarity, compassion and straight forward advice. It suggests different ways to cope with the variety of issues that parents face." Flicka van Praagh, Director of International Adoptions, Spence-Chapin
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Becoming the Parent You Want to Be
A Sourcebook of Strategies for the First Five Years
By Laura Davis & Janis Keyser
$20.00
This book offers a developmental approach for both children and parents. Provides parents with energy to explore, experiment and grow along with their kids. The authors examine both the needs of children and the feelings of parents. Dealing particularly well with the topic of kids who push limits, the authors suggest practical means for responding calmly and effectively to potentially disruptive behaviors.

Pact says: Thought-provoking, challenging and enriching, a great resource for every new and not-so-new parent's shelf.
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Attachment Parenting
by William and Martha Sears
$13.95
A commonsense guide to understanding and nurturing your baby, Attachment Parenting encourages early, strong, and sustained attention to the new baby's needs and this book outlines the steps that will create the most lasting bonds between parents and their children. Practical and provocative these ideas, the heart of the Sears' parenting creed, is one every new parent should think about. Suggestions are appropriate for older children who are of a younger emotional than chronological age.

Pact says: A great resource for parents although the tone is sometimes a bit prescriptive.
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Forever Fingerprints
By Sherrie Eldridge, Illustrated by Rob Williams
$17.95
Forever Fingerprints uses a common occurrence - a relative's pregnancy - as a springboard for discussions on birthparents, and where adopted children are before they are born. Lucie is excited to feel a baby moving in her Aunt Grace's tummy but it makes her think of how she understands her adoption story in a different way. The tools offered by her parents - an understanding of how each person has unique fingerprints given to them by the specific mixture of their birth parents genetics - give Lucie's parents the chance to reinforce their love for her, to empathize with her feelings of confusion and interest about her birth parents and to honor her connections to her birth heritage.

Pact says: This is a worthwhile addition to every family's library, yet another vehicle to encourage the normal discussion of children's experience of and growing understanding about what it means to be adopted. This book is autographed by the author and includes a washable inkpad and a special sheet for making a fingerprint memory as well as some suggestions for parents about how to use the story with their children. We like it.
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Mirrors & Windows, Using Books to Support Young Children
$2.00
Just knowing about books is not enough. We all hear that reading is good for children but many parents don't know how to start or how to make reading fun for their kids. They are looking for help in deciding how to choose books for themselves and particularly their children. Parents as well as clinicians and educators are often looking for strategies for how to use books to jumpstart important conversations with children about their feelings and concerns about race and adoption. An excellent resource on these topics is Mirrors & Windows, a booklet about using books with young children written by Pact for parents and teachers. Topics Include: Book Facts, Helping Children Love to Read at Different Ages and Stages, Choosing Books, How Reading Helps Children Process Feelings, Suggestions for Teachers with Adopted Students.
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Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: #1 The Burried Bones Mystery
By Sharon M. Draper
$6.00
When Ziggy gets the word that the trip to Camp Caesar is on, he can't wait to tell his friends, the Black Dinosaurs. But the four pals couldn't know what excitement awaited them. In this third adventure, the boys learn a lot about American, Native American, and African-American history.

Pact says: Great books about a group of four boys who just happen to be African American, good friends and prone to adventures and mystery. Great reads that will especially inspire young boys. These books are fun but also teach history and pride rooted in the African American community.
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It's All Good Hair: The Guide to Styling and Grooming Black Children's Hair
by Michele Collinson
$12.95
Learn how to do coils, knots, twists, and more. Featuring hair-care and styling tips from a variety of experts, and learn the secrets to braiding, relaxing, and locking,. Detailed instruction on how to care for a variety of hair textures from bone straight to wavy, to tightly coiled and everything in between. This book covers parting to combing to cornrows, twists and braiding. It also covers some basic style for boys.

Pact says: Nice reminders for readers about the importance of telling their children that they are beautiful and smart as they spend time together combing and styling.
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Kids, Parents & Power Struggles
by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
$13.95
Drawing on her clinical experience with families, Kurcinka builds up an image of the parent as an "emotion coach," whose role is to build a strong, connected "team" by understanding the players' strengths and weaknesses and showing by instruction and example how best to play the game. The techniques she outlines are useful for children of any age.

Pact says: Kurcinka's book gives a concise, practical, and oftenhumorous account of how to achieve family harmony. Kurcinka doesn't promise miracle cures or overnightsuccess, but offers creative techniques for using power struggles as pathways to better understanding within any family.
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Mind At A Time, A
by Mel Levine
$15.95
It would be wonderful if all children learned at the same rate and possessed the same aptitude for learning; however, each child is a unique individual. The educational system today does not recognize this. Levine believes children have different ways of learning and defines eight mind systems (attention, memory, language, spatial ordering, sequential ordering, motor, higher thinking, and social thinking)and strategies for using them. Detailed steps describe how mental processes (like problem solving) work for capable kids, and how they can be finessed to serve those who struggle. Teach planning, stop telling kids they don't try hard enough, and never allow a child to be humiliated in school are part of his approach. .

Pact says: A great resource for parents of kids with learning difficulties.
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Raising Your Spirited Child
by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
$14.95
Children who are more intense, perceptive and persistent may also be less adaptable, have more energy, and exhibit more difficult behavior. This optimistic book offers support and practical advice to parents raising spirited children. The author advises "progress, not perfection".

Pact says: The engaging writing clearly presents practical skills for parenting. Highly recommended to parents of adopted children, many of whom act out their feelings about their core experiences by having difficulty with transitions, testing authority, fighting bedtime, and a range of behaviors discussed by the author. A Pact bestseller.
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Sticks and Stones: (7 ways Your Child Can Deal with Teasing)
by Scott Cooper
$13.00
This book gives parents tips on how to teach their children basic communication skills to deflect or diffuse conflict. This handbook is the best we have found for teaching positive communication and conflict resolution that will be useful to kids throughout their lives. Use "I" messages. If you can side-step a verbal conflict, do it. Say things that will let the other person know that you have heard what he or she has said (even if you don't agree with it). It also offers kids words to use to stand up for themselves and hold their own ground without giving in: "I know that's what you think, but I don't agree."

Pact says: The difficulty with the book is that these very simple communication techniques are presented through a confusing metaphor as the author labels the techniques using habits of particular birds -- thus, assertive self expression is taught as "The Way of the Blue Jay." Unless a child is familiar with birds, or drawn to learning about them, this presentation will probably get in the way of tessons being taught. Nonetheless, the book does a good job of letting parents know exactly what will be helpful to kids.
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Let's Talk About Race
by Julius Lester, Illustrated by Karen Barbour
$16.99
Lester talks about race and racism in terms that young children can absorb. "Why would some people say their race is better than another? Because they feel bad about themselves.... " Simple words interspersed with bold pictures of people with different skin colors, he gives children language with which to understand how race matters and how it doesn't; offering the understanding of race as one, not the only, characteristic of self.

Pact says: Great job giving parents a way to talk about a topic that they are sometimes fearful to tackle.
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Megan's Birthday Tree
by Laurie Lears, Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
$15.95
A Story About Open Adoption. When Kendra, Megan's birth mother, writes to say she is getting married and moving to a different town, Megan is worried she will forget her, especially since the "birthday tree" she planted when Megan was born is in her old backyard. The story ends when Megan finds out that Kendra has transplanted the birthday tree, and will be continuing to send pictures of it to Megan each year,.

Pact says: Very sweet, this book explores the importance of their birth parents to children this age.
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Becoming Naomi Leon
by Pam Munoz Ryan
$5.99
Naomi is biracial, Mexican and white, the only one in the family who looks like a person of color. Her mother left Naomi and her little brother with her grandmother when she was quite young. When Naomi's mother reappears after seven years, the family conflict that ensues pushes Naomi's grandmother to bring the kids to Oaxaca to search for Naomi's Mexican father. Naomi gets a chance to learn about and become a part of her Mexican extended family. While in Mexico, Naomi finds her cultural heritage and her own voice.

Pact says: This book explores many issues that are relevant to adopted children - particularly those adopted transracially. The book's themes of bridging several families, connecting different cultures, and forging a personal identity gives transracially adopted kids much to think about.
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Hank Zipzer Collection
by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
$19.96
Includes 4 titles: Niagara Falls, or does It?; I Got A "D" in Salmi; Day of the Iguana; The Zippity Zinger. These are laugh outloud books, as Hank and his friends (who just happen to be Chinese and African American, from middle class professional families) romp together through various antics and funny situations mostly created by Hank's struggles in school. Hank has learning differences which are really coming to the fore now that he is in fourth grade. Any child facing these issues will feel better about themselves and their struggles because of Hank and his fantastic ideas and adventures.

Pact says: This is a great series and a wonderful read, especially for kids facing learning challenges.
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Sadako and the Thousand Cranes
by Elanor Coerr
$5.99
Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on her home city of Hiroshima. When she was twelve, she developed leukemia. Facing long days in bed, Sadako spent the time folding paper cranes, for the legend holds that if a sick person folds 1000 cranes, the gods will make her well again. She folded 644 cranes before she died. Children all over Japan helped collect money to build a monument to her.

Pact says: An inspiring story of one child's courage in the face of adversity and the tremendous outpouring of support she received from the people around her. A Pact bestseller.
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Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963, The
by Christopher Curtis
$6.50
10-year-old Kenny and his family, the "Weird Watsons", set out on a trip like no other. They're going to Birmingham, Alabama, during one of the darkest moments in America's civil rights history. In the midst of the warmth and hilarity of the family, they encounter unexpected violence and some painful racist history.

Pact says: Being familiar with "isms" is strengthening for all kids. This award winning account of racism in the south has plenty of spice and no sugarcoating. It grabs the reader and won't let go.
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Jacket, The
by Andrew Clements, Illustrated by McDavid Henderson
$5.99
A story of a young white boy who begins to realize that he has prejudice toward African Americans. As the story progresses he begins to realize that his mother and father and friends do too, as they live in an all white neighborhood and don't interact with Black people except superficially. He makes a visit to the young boy who was given his brother's old jacket and comes to the realization that Black people aren't really any different than he is, it was his stereotypes that were different.

Pact says: This is a direct and simple story about race-based assumptions that white people unknowingly carry.
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If It Hadn't Been for You Yoon Jun
by Marie Lee
$5.99
Seventh-grader Alice Larsen wants to deny her Korean ancestry. Adopted as a baby by a Minnesota family, she is a happy, popular cheerleader. When another Korean, Yoon Jun Lee, begins attending her school, Alice thinks he is weird. Then he becomes her partner to prepare a report about Korea to present to students and parents. Alice's interest in her heritage is piqued, and she eventually becomes friends with Yoon Jun and his family.

Pact says: Alice's emotions are genuine and believable as she denies her Korean heritage but wonders, too... about birth parents, about what might have been.
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Parents Wanted
by George Harrar
$6.95
Andy is twelve years old and was removed from his parents several years before. He meets a couple at his 5th adoption party who he chooses to adopt him and they do. Parents Wanted chronicles Andy's experience as he moves in with Laurie and Jeff and eventually becomes their son. It includes very telling passages as he copes with loyalty issues regarding his birth parents, ADD, shame about being adopted and his fear that he will be rejected and lose another family and have to return to the group home.

Pact says: What is wonderful about this book is that it is written from a twelve-year-old's voice giving kids and parents alike a window into how a kid who has been through several placements and group homes views the world and the actions of the adults who are SUPPOSED to be caring for him. Really insightful.
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Skin I'm In, The
by Sharon Flake
$5.99
Maleeka Madison feels like a freak in her inner-city middle school. The kids pick on her because she is 'the darkest, worst-dressed thing in school' and because she gets good grades. Funny and clever, Flake is honest about how mean people are. The gum-smacking, wisecracking dialogue in the hallways, the girls' bathroom, and the classroom will pull readers into a world too rarely represented in middle-grade fiction.

Pact says: Fitting in racially, even within your own racial group, is complicated and peer pressure and the desire to be "like" everyone else makes this a great read for middle school kids.
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Tequila Worm, The
by Viola Canales
$15.95
This story of family and community is an affectionate picture of the life of a Mexican American family. The book is rich with details about celebrating el dia de los Muertos, preparing for a quinceanera, rejoicing in the Christmas nacimiento, and the lore of the tequila worm. Sofia celebrates festivals and rituals with her family throughout the year as she grows into a young woman, and faces a decision about how to leave home to attend a private boarding school that will open the world to her, but take her away from her family.

Pact says: The novel describes not only how these traditions are celebrated, but also their role in tying together the Mexican American family and community. Sofia's struggle with how to hold onto the values of her heritage and family while becoming her own person is sure to resonate with teens exploring identity.
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Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, A
by Dana Reinhardt
$15.95
Simone has always felt different, her parents and her brother all look like each other and seem similar in their ways. Simone is a member of a middle class professional family, studying for her SATs, facing dilemma's about choosing to get drunk at parties, having sex with boyfriends and smoking dope. She also happens to be adopted. Her birth mother and adoptive parents ask her to consider meeting with and having contact for the first time ever, something that at 16 she isn't sure she wants. They push her and she eventually opens the gates to find that it really matters to her to find out her story and make a connection to Rivka, her Jewish (Hassidic) birth mother, who chooses this time to connect because she herself is facing a terminal illness.

Pact says: We love this book because it stirs up emotions and reads very true to middle and upper class teens who may be afraid to stir the emotional pot of search and reunion but in fact struggle to feel whole without about their birth family. A really good read.
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Caucasia
by Danzy Senna
$14.00
Explores the internal cultural tug of war of a multiracial family. When their family breaks up, Birdie's Black father and sister move to Brazil to find racial equality, while Birdie and her white mother take on new identities and move to a small New Hampshire town where Birdie passes for white. Birdie tries to fit in but struggles to find a way to make both her white and black heritage to count. Her search for her sister leads to a search for her own identity.

Pact says: This is a well written book about the struggle for racial identity that multiracial youth face, particularly highlighting the differences between growing up with a strong African American influence versus living in a predominantly white environment.
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Secret of Me, The
by Meg Kearney
$17.95
Being adopted is a fact of life for fourteen-year-old Lizzie: she and her older brother and sister are all adopted. Lizzie struggles with telling her boyfriend that she is adopted for fear he will think there is something wrong with her and she especially struggles with explaining to her family that she would like to know more about her birth parents. A tender, sometimes intense, look at the inner life of an adopted teen. Autobiographical.

Pact says: This book or poems expresses a range of emotions that will be familiar to all teens, and especially to those who have been adopted and are secretly wondering if their questions are "normal."
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Heart of Parenting, The: Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
by John Gottman
$17.95
In this guide to teaching children to understand their own emotions, the author proposes a five-step process of "Emotion Coaching" to develop a skill the author defines as "emotional intelligence." He argues that children who learn to master their emotions are more self-confident and more likely to be emotionally healthy.

Pact says: In adoptive families, being able to express and deal with difficult emotions is extremely important, for both parents and kids. The book's guide for how to empathize with your kids and how to talk with them about hard feelings like fear, sadness and anger is a tremendously helpful tool. Be aware that the book's chapter titled "The Father's Crucial Role" is dated, but the book's value far outweighs this weakness.
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Because I Loved You: A Birthmother's View of Open Adoption
by Patricia Dischler
$16.95
This unique blend of Patricia's personal story (20 years post-placement) combined with her advice and research as to what expectant parents considering an adoption can anticipate at each stage of the process is very helpful because it goes beyond the placement to adulthood of the child placed for adoption. Patricia is careful to a fault not to overstep her boundaries by trespassing on her son's adoptive mother's territory, and she is thoughtful and articulate in her advice and insight.

Pact says: The combination of personal and professional is refreshing and helpful. An engaging read.
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Temperament Tools
Working With Your Child's Inborn Traits
By Helen Nelville & Diane Clark Johnson, Illustrated by Dave Garbot
$14.95
Research shows that temperament is something we are born with. When you understand what makes your adopted child tick, you can adapt your parenting style to your child's individual needs, making your job much easier.

This book is a very hands on practical approach to understanding children's temperament and how it influences their behavior, giving parents really helpful tools for understanding and responding to what often feels like challenging behavior.
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Black is Brown is Tan
By Arnold Adoff
$6.99
This collection of poems about biracial identity, presented in an accessible, conversational voice, have stood the test of time and serve as a good springboard for discussing racial heritage with children. This series projects a clear and positive perspective for young people in general, standing up for an "I'm okay" attitude that will likely feel supportive to multiracial children. The poems express the voice of a well-rounded character who values helping the community while progressing toward self-realization. One of the few books of poetry to address this topic.

Pact says: This poetry about biracial identity has been a favorite for over thirty years.
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Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
by Abigail Garner
$13.95
The author, who was herself raised by her gay dad and his partner interviewed over fifty adults in their 20's and 30's who had gay or lesbian parents. She offers an insiders' perspective on what it is like to grow up in an LGBT family, covering topics like coming out, how kids talk about (or hide) their LGBT parents, kids' experiences at school, how the children develop their own sexual identity, HIV/AIDS, and family breakup.

Pact says: This book is a must read for LGBT parents. he refreshingly acknowledges the challenges as well as the joys faced by kids and gives their parents and others who work with them some invaluable information.
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Third Choice, The
by Gail Moscone and Leslie Foge
$15.95
There are few books in print for or about birth mothers that reflect a belief in the benefits of openness. This is the first book that accurately details the predictable emotional steps in the journey of placement, from the initial decision through common events during the first year after placement. Written in a warm, conversational tone and filled with the personal experiences, this book is engaging, respectful, and realistic.

Pact says: Finally! An intelligent guide for adults facing the complexities of placing a child for adoption.
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First R, The; How Children Learn Race and Racism
By Debra Van Ausdale & Joe R. Feagin
$19.95
A study of 3 and 4 year olds in progressive multicultural day care centers showing that young children have a sophisticated knowledge of how race/ethnicity is used in our society to rank people -- AND that they know this racial hierarchy makes many adults anxious so they try to cover their knowledge.

Pact says: An extremely useful book that underlines the importance of explicitly teaching about race and tolerance. Although the book is academic in tone, the content make this a worthwhile read to complete.
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Transnational Adoption: A Cultural Economy of Race, Gender and Kinship
by Sara Dorow
$23.00
Dorow provides an honest and intriguing look at hard topics in language that's sometimes painfully direct. In discussing the children who are available for adoption, for example, Dorow describes how the "industry" of adoption encourages the invisibility of special-needs children, while the "healthiest," and thus most "salable" children, get the best care in orphanages. She addresses institutional racism, gender and class issues in the specific context of US-Chinese adoptions, but her analysis has much broader applicability.

Pact says: There's no denying that this is a challenging read, both intellectually and emotionally--Dorow brings her sociologist's sensibility to this academic text, and her conclusions may make the reader uncomfortable. She insists that we look at the whole truth, including who benefits and who is served when adoptions happen.
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Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption
Jane Jeong Tranka, Julia Chinyere Oparah and Sun Yung Shin, Editors
$20.00
Although transracial adoption is generally considered win-win, it has too often exacted a heavy toll on children when white parents approach it from a color blind or child-saving mentality. Through gripping essays, poetry and are, transracially adopted writers and artists from around the world carefully explore explore this most intimate aspect of globalization.

Pact says: Experts on their own experience, the writers of Outsiders Within offer an illuminating and provocative glimpse in to the world of transracial adoption that will make many of us uncomfortable but validates the lives of those children currently placed for adoption across racial and cultural lines. A must read!
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Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience
Edited by Chandra Prasad, Introduction by Rebecca Walker
$15.95
This anthology of short stories by and about people of mixed racial heritage explores the complexities of multiracialism and multiculturalism. Each piece is preceded by a short biographical sketch of the writer and concludes with a commentary.

Pact says: This is an absorbing and thought-provoking collection of stories that explore racial identity, alienation, and people often forced to choose between races and cultures in a search for self-identity.
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Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens
By Debbie Riley & John Meeks
$19.95
This book gives clinicians and therapists insight into adopted teens and is an important new contribution to the field of adoption. Adopted teens are facing complex issues that require therapists and clinicians who are educated about their unique struggles. The authors identify six adolescent "stuck spots" and discuss some of the ways that therapists and parents can help children process the issues when they arise.

Pact says: Directed to clinicians, this book is very useful to parents as well - offering insight into what adopted teens are feeling. Excellent resource!
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Can We Talk About Race: And Other Coversations in an Era of School
By Beverly Daniel Tatum
$22.95
Tatum starts with a warning call about increasing but underreported resegregation of America. A self-described "integration baby"--she was born in 1954--Tatum sees our growing isolation from each other as deeply problematic, and she believes that schools can be key institutions for forging connections across the racial divide. In this ambitious, accessible book, Tatum examines issues in American education and race relations: the need of African American students to see themselves reflected in curricula and institutions; how unexamined racial attitudes can negatively affect minority-student achievement; and the possibilities--and complications--of intimate cross-racial friendships. Tatum approaches all these topics with the blend of analysis and storytelling that make her persuasive and engaging.

Pact says: We consider Beverly Daniel Tatum to be one of the truth-tellers about our current state of race relations and issues. This is must reading for all parents of children of color.
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Identity Trap: Saving Our Teens from Themselves
By Joseph Nowinski
$22.00
Violent behavior. Eating disorders. Drug use and drinking. These are just some of the scary behaviors that are explored in this book. What is groundbreaking and particularly relevant to adopted teens, is the authors premise that the answer and solution to problematic behavior in children lies in their quest for identity. Dr. Nowinski offers explanations of how identity exploration leads teens to fall prey to their own worst impusles as well as solutions for parents seeking to help their children get to the root of their search and helping them to stop the destructive or harmful behavior rather than push them further into it.

Pact says: This book is highly relevant to adoptive families of teens and pre-teens because it focuses on one of the core issues that all adopted teens face, resolution of their own complex identity.
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Myth of Laziness
By Mel Levine
$15.00
America's top learning expert shows how kids - and parents- can become more productive. Dr. Levine shows that children who are labeled lazy or unproductive usually suffer from what he calls "output failure" - a neurodevelopmental dysfunction that can continue to cause difficulties into adulthood if left unchecked. Practical, wise and compassionate, the book offers parents day-to-day strategies to help their children become productive.

Pact says: Dr. Levine offers real insight and hope for kids and families facing learning disabilities because he focuses on ways to succeed rather than ways to fail.
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Pinballs, The
By Betsy Byars
$5.99
Coming to terms with Living in foster care. You can't always decide where life will take you when you're stuck in foster care. Three kids in foster care - Pinballs, as wisecracking Carly dubs them - collide in a warm and caring home and learn to pin their hopes on each other. This books engages these three children in many conversations and also enlightens us about their real feelings as they struggle to feel good about themselves in the face of the loss of their birth family and placement in foster care.

Pact says: A hopeful story that will give all adopted and foster children children a vehicle to explore their feelings whether they were placed at older ages or as infants. It's nice for children to have stories they can measure their own feelings against.
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Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind
By Suzanne Fischer Staples
$6.99
Exploring the challenges of a young Muslim girl growing up in Pakistan, Shabanu struggles to find her own identity. Set against the backdrop of desert life in present day Pakistan, this book offers a passionate and deeply personal portrait of a young girlâ019s struggle for identity in a culture that forbids even token expression of independence for women.

Pact says: The first in a triplicate of books that explores life for a middle school-aged girl in a non-Western culture that asks her to choose between family loyalties and personal dreams.

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Learning the Dance of Attachment
by Holly van Gulden & Charlotte Vick
$20.00
A small book that packs a huge punch. Filled with practical advice and specific suggestions for how to enhance attachment in children of all ages, this books is popular for all families that have worked with Holly or know her work. As a parent herself, Holly understands that attachment is a lifelong process of learning to trust and believe in the relationship of adoption.

Pact says: The suggestions in this book give parents and children real encouragement as they solidify their mutual attachment, which leads to children behaving better and parents feeling confident. Really helpful, especially for families with challenging children.
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Debating Race
by Michael Eric Dyson
$26.00
Having risen from poverty to become an ordained minister, a tenured professor at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, Dyson has been called the voice of Black America because of his ability to combine intellectual rigor with popular culture. Collecting 27 transcribed conversations involving an impressive list of thinkers-including scholars (Gary Orfield, Cornel West), politicians (John McCain, John Kerry) and pop-political commentators (Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher)-Dyson and company tackle practically every angle in America's experience of race, including the legacy of the civil rights movement, immigration reform, affirmative action, urban poverty and the war on terror.

Pact says: Dyson is controversial and provocative, offering real insight into the state of race in America.
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Once Upon a Quinceanera : Coming of Age in the USA
by Julia Alvarez
$23.95
Skillfully blending memoir and social science, Alvarez explores the quinceañera, the coming-of-age ceremony for Latinas turning 15. She structures her book around one particular girl's ceremony, from the dreamy planning stages through the late hours of the actual, dizzying affair. Both sympathetic and critical, she doesn't dismiss the event as a waste of hard-earned savings or as a mere display of daughters for the marriage market; nor does she endorse it as the essential cultural tradition connecting Latinas to their roots. Instead, Alvarez wants readers to focus on creating positive, meaningful rites of passage for the younger generation.

Pact says: By intercutting the party narrative with stories from her own youth, Alvarez reminds herself-and readers-of both the value and complexity of the ritual in the Latino community.
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No Lye: The African American Women's Guide to Natural Hair Care
by Tulani Kinard
$13.95
Kinard's study on African American natural hair care is based on her philosophical belief that beauty and self-love is healthy and biologically sound. A must-read for every African-American woman, man, girl, and boy-and every parent and friend who plans to take care of a child's hair! Tulani Kinard reveals the secrets to obtaining and maintaining beautiful healthy hair-naturally.

Pact says: Don't think hair is not an adoption issue. Feeling beautiful and handsome is part of feeling good about oneself.
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Yellow: Race in America beyond Black and White
by Frank Wu
$16.95
A leading voice in the Asian American community tackles what is means to be Asian American in contemporary America. Wu suggests that the widespread stereotyping of Asian Americans, while "superficially positive," is inherently damaging. Mixing personal anecdotes, current events, academic studies, and court cases, Wu not only debunks the myth of a "model minority" but also makes discomfiting observations about attitudes toward affirmative action, what he calls "rational" discrimination, mixed marriages, racial profiling, and assimilation versus multiculturalism.

Pact says: A fascinating and clearly presented discussion of the Asian American experience.
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Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib
by Jaiya John
$17.00
Transracial adoption remains a potent and charged idea in American social life. Now, the children of these adoptions are coming of age as adults. Dr. Jaiya John, through his honest memoir, presents us with a voice from deep within the heart of this cultural and psychological phenomenon. The first Black child in the history of New Mexico to be adopted by a white family, John's story is a landmark.

Pact says: John's adpotive parents taught him how to love; hence, he could readily accept and envelope his biological family. Had he been denied unflinching love as a child, there might have been bitterness and resentment toward his biological parents for their absence in his life. The reader meets an emotional healthy person who successfully evolves from a darkness into the light of love.
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Daughter of the Ganges
by Asha Miro
$14.00
Daughter of the Ganges is a moving, 2-part account of the author's search for her roots in India, from where she was taken as an almost 7- year old to be adopted by a loving couple from Barcelona, Spain. The first part of the book details her first trip back to India, as a 27 year old, yearning to find the missing pieces in what little information she has about her first seven years of life and the second part of her book, details her return to India and her search for biological family.

Pact says: Miro writes eloquently about the importance to her of searching and finding that connection, of seeing herself reflected in biological family members and of finally being able to imagine what her life would have been like had her circumstances been different.
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Dim Sum, Bagels and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families
by Myra Alperson
$15.00
Alperson will take you on a thoughtful, provocative and cheerful personal journey into the identity issues of multicultural adoptive families through her own experience of adopting her daughter Sadie from China as a single mother. This fascinating introduction to the diversity of approaches and attitudes among such families is enriched by voices not often heard from. Including lively stories from transracial adoptees and adoptive parents along with the author's own straightforward views.

Pact says: Alperson's approach provides a wonderful jump start to the thinking of anyone considering transracial adoption.
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In Their Parents' Voices
by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda
$27.50
In this collection of interviews conducted with the parents of black and biracial young adoptees who were interviewed for In Their Own Voices. In addition to interviews, the book includes overviews of both the history and current legal status of transracial adoption.

Pact says: This book offers some good insights from experienced parents who discuss their experience and their children's from the long view of having completed the task of raising their children. Another important contribution to the literature on transracial adoption.
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Bippity Bop Barbershop
by Natasha Tarpley, Illustrated by E.B. Lewis
$16.99
In this companion book to the bestselling I Love My Hair, a young boy, Miles, makes his first trip to the barbershop with his father. Like most little boys, he is afraid of the sharp scissors, the buzzing razor, and the prospect of picking a new hairstyle. But with the support of his dad, the barber, and the other men in the barbershop, Miles bravely sits through his first haircut.

Pact says: Written in a reassuring tone with a jazzy beat, this book captures an important rite of passage forboys and celebrates African American identity.
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Lucky Girl
by Mei-Long Hopgood
$23.95
Mei-Ling Hopgood has written a wonderful memoir, Lucky Girl, about her reunion with her birth family in Taiwan. With her clear prose and journalist's eye for detail, she creates a compelling story of how the relationship begins and how it develops over the years through visits and letters.

Pact says: One of the strongest aspects of Lucky Girl is the way Hopgood captures the complexity of reunion. As their relationships develop beyond first impressions, she learns some of the secrets and painful events that have shaped her birth family and the lives of her siblings. This evolution is inevitable and takes her readers along on a rollercoaster ride of joy and sorrow, disillusionment and acceptance.
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