Finding Joy - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 3–This well-written story features a Chinese baby whose birth parents feel that they have no room for girls and sadly arrange for her to be found; she is then placed in an orphanage. Coste relates this heartbreaking event in gentle, nonjudgmental terms. A white American couple with grown children, who missed the sight of little hands and chubby legs, feel that their family's not complete and decide to adopt a daughter from China. Shu-li is renamed Joy. Chen's painterly watercolor spreads are appealing, with realistic depictions of both races. They complement the simple elegance of the text. The author's note offers an explanation of China's policies and traditions that cause parents to prefer boy babies. It is both comprehensive and easy for even young children to understand. A number of excellent picture books that explore many types of adoption have been published in the past decade. This one would be a good choice for collections with a need for a variety of titles. Its handling of the harsh reality of the abandonment of baby girls in China is both accurate and sensitive.–Deborah Vose, Highlands Elementary School, Braintree, MA
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