Adoption: The Facts, Feelings, and Issues of a Double Heritage - Hardcover

Grade 7 Up-- This modest-sized, clearly written revision of a 1981 title is excellent in presenting the concerns of adopted people who--however diverse their individual stories--have in common a double heritage from which they derive their identities. At the heart of the adoption stories are complicated emotions and crucial themes; DuPrau is evenhanded and sensitive in presenting these issues and in acknowledging that contemporary adoptees come from many races and nations. A third of the book is devoted to the dilemmas that invariably occur when adopted people want to meet their birth parents or in cases of open adoption, in which the birth mother knows the adoptive family and keeps some contact with her child. Included is a brief list of sources for pregnancy and adoption counseling, locating maternity homes, and contacting adoptee search organizations. The brief bibliography includes no recently published titles, and the incomplete citation of research discussed in the book is regrettable. In spite of these flaws, this is a fine book for young-adult collections. --Anna Biagioni Hart, Sherwood Regional Library, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.