RAR #87: Books to Celebrate Your Adopted Child, Brooke Cooney
In today’s episode of the podcast, we’re sharing books about adoption.
Some are picture books, some are YA–and we’ve got a little something for everyone in between. These are books that will help your family celebrate the adopted children in your life.
Brooke Cooney has made it her mission to share books about orphaned children, fostering and adoption.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- about books for families who are waiting to bring their child home
- books that help adopted kids to feel understood and see themselves reflected in the pages
- tons of suggestions from picture books, to books for teens, to books for parents
Click the play button below:
Listener Guide
Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast:
- 2:08 Meet Brooke
- 5:10 Books for the adoption/fostering journey
- 8:44 Celebrating Adoption
- 11:04 Helping adopted children feel understood
- 13:51 Brooke’s book recommendations
- 20:36 Middle grade and chapter book recommendations
- 27:42 Book suggestions for teens
- 31:02 Encouragement for families who hope to adopt
- 33:45 Let the kids speak
A couple takeaways …
- “This idea came from Rudine Sims Bishops– she wrote an article about how children need books that are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Windows, in that they allow you to peek into the life of someone else that lives very differently than you do … And then also mirrors, in that you need to see your own life reflected back at you. A child feels deep kinship with the character in a book who they can relate with, and they see their lives reflected back at them. And, also sliding glass doors, which is more like the idea of going through fantasy or seeing a whole new world, or seeing things from a completely different paradigm.” -Sarah Mackenzie
- “For children like myself who had that passion (for adoption) we can fan that flame for them and guide them in that direction from an early age, that they can even be doing things now that change the world by just helping their kids that they know of at church who’ve been adopted, or they go to school—those at school, befriending them and loving them for who they are not because of their situation but just the person that they are.” -Brooke Cooney
Books from this episode:
(All links are affiliate links.)
Links from this episode:
- Brooke’s booklist: 50+ books that highlight orphans and celebrate adoption
- Brooke’s post at iBelieve: A Letter to My Younger Self Concerning Adoption
- Brooke’s website: This Temporary Home
- RAR #53: Can a Children’s Book Change the World, Linda Sue Park
- Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors, Rudine Sims Bishop
- Grace Lin’s TEDx talk: The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf
- RAR #52: Bonding Through Books, Tricia Goyer
- Order The Read-Aloud Family
You can download Brooke’s new book for FREE, or check out the Kickstarter for physical copies:
