In rhyming verse, a two-dad family here tells their second child the story of her adoption. From filling out the forms, to waiting expectantly and preparing a room, to receiving a call from the caseworker and meeting the birth mother, then welcoming the child home, the reader (addressed in the second person) sees many steps in the adoption journey and the family’s expanding love along the way.
The story, inspired by author Tom Tracy’s own family, emphasizes how much the birth mother loved the child and chose the dads to love her, too. We also see the love and joy of the dads’ growing family, and how the older sibling helps pick a name for the new child. (While this book does not explore the older child’s feelings about becoming a sibling, that is perhaps best left as a subject for its own story.)
My only small quibble is that the book includes the line, “Your name was chosen, whether girl or a boy,” which unfortunately doesn’t leave room for children with nonbinary identities.
For families who see themselves in these pages, however (particularly transracial families like the one shown here), this is a cheery, affirming, and warmly illustrated tale to explain and celebrate an adopted child’s arrival.
The dads read as White and the birth mother as Black; the older child has tan skin and brown hair; the younger has darker brown skin and hair.
