We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families
Coalition Staff Member Review
As parents of adoptive families, we often have the responsibility of explaining a complex family dynamic, like adoption, to a child who cannot yet wrap their brain around the full meaning of adoption. In this book, the author has created a tool that can assist parents in explaining the complexity of family to a young child who may be starting to ask questions.
Believing that every family is different, this book helps explain to children how they belong in the family they are in and how everyone plays a role in loving and caring for each other. One of the things I really liked about this book is the idea of relationship in each of the sentences, for example, “We belong together because…you wanted to learn, and we had lots to teach you. Now we can discover new places together.” The book continues with relational sentences showing how they all belong together, depend on each other, and create a family.
The illustrations throughout the book create a sense of belonging as well. They are bright, cheerful, and inclusive. In all, I recommend this book for those families who have children ages 3-5. I could easily see this becoming a family favorite.
Additional Author: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0316016681
Count: 1
In a kid-friendly, accessible way, this book explores the ways that people can choose to come together to make a family by showing one perspective on the adoption experience. We Belong Together is about sharing your home and sharing your heart to make a family that belongs together. With an understanding of how personal and unique each adoption is, and that not everyone comes to it in the same way, Todd Parr’s colorful art explores the meaning of family.