We Belong Together. A Book About Adoption and Families

Customer Reviews

Paperwork Pregnant and loving this book!

2008-12-11
This is a fabulous book! It was a present from a friend when we started our adoption paperwork and since then I've shared it with a social worker friend who has 2 adopted grade school girls and they loved it and approved of it! Great, Great book! This is also fabulous since it has all different colors of parents, kids and dogs as well as all mom/mom, dad/mom, dad/dad and older parent pictures!

Learning about families

2008-11-02
I am an adoptive parent and I think this book is cute and sends a great message. My 19 month old son loves the bright illustrations and someday soon he will love to hear the story of our family was formed

Oops

2008-08-24
I love the illustrations, but as many other reviews said, the message is so one sided and sad. It gives the feeling that the child should be grateful to be adopted. I adopted my son through foster care and have the same reaction when people say what a wonderful thing my husband and I are doing. I always feel they have it so wrong, my son was the wonderful thing that happened to us!

what is a family?

2008-08-14
We belong together. This book tell the story of all types of families with many different colors and sizes. I bought this book for a friend who adopted a little girl and she is a single mom, It shows that many different types of people which makes a family, you've got the single mom,the single dad, the two parent family, with mom and dad and mom and mom and dad and dad. Every type of family. All you need is love to make a family. I loved the colors and it made me smile. I know it will make any little adopted child smile as well. I was so excited i showed it to all my friends and everyone loved it. Its a must have. SO now what do you think makes a family?

Great for kids

2008-07-27
I read this book to my son, adopted from Russia at age 3. I felt the message was very appropriate, simple to read, and conveyed how much all of us need each other.

We love this book

2008-07-07
In a kid-friendly, accessible way, this book explores the ways that people can choose to come together to make a family. It's about sharing your home and sharing your heart to make a family that belongs together.

What about what my mother needed?

2008-05-21
How about the fact that my infertile adoptive mother needed a child, a girl specifically, to fulfill her dreams? Is that in this book?

The only reason I needed a home is because my single mother was not given any support to help care for me and society deemed her unfit.

The title along is enough to make me gag - what I needed was my natural mother - it is her and I that should have belonged together. I get so sick and tired of all these cutesy-make-light-of-adoption children's stories that are supposed to reinforce to the child why they should be happy about being adopted. To me it's brainwashing.

Great book about adoption

2008-03-18
This is a wonderful book for small children. The pictures are a lot of fun and it has a very relevant message.

a mom

2008-03-12
I was very disappointed with this book. A previous reviewer said it best. The book positions the adopted children as victims. Every page gives the impression that they needed something and we adoptive parents came to their rescue. I think it would make a child feel sad.

Courtesy of Kids @ Teens Read Too

2008-02-28
Although WE BELONG TOGETHER is geared towards adoptive parents and their children, any family can benefit from reading the book, especially if done so together. Although I've read some negative reviews about the book, statements made that it gives the wrong message to adopted children, I don't think that's the case at all.

Both of my children have, at one time or another, asked why they were our kids and not someone elses. How is it that we became their parents, and not the parents of some other children? For younger children, who don't know all of the details of how becoming a parent works, this is a valid question.

My answer has always been the same as the one Todd Parr provides within the pages of the bright, bold, beautifully illustrated WE BELONG TOGETHER: because you needed love, and I had a lot to give.

This book, although it doesn't mention birth parents, makes the act of adoption a two-way street: both child and parent need something (love, learning, shelter, fun & laughter), and both have things to give in return (a hug & a kiss, knowledge, safety).

I think that this is a great book for adopted families, especially when read together. But all families will enjoy it, and the positive message of love and acceptance that it gives.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"