Far From the Tree is big story with well-developed main characters, Grace, Maya and Joaquin. They are teenage biological siblings from the same birth mother, who initially have no idea the other exists until they experience separate life-altering events. Grace becomes a teen mom who makes the heart-shattering decision to relinquish her newborn daughter to a semi-open adoption arrangement. Maya is struggling with her identity as someone who looks nothing like the family she’s been adopted into, plus she deals with an alcoholic parent. Joaquin, who is aging out of the foster care system very s ..read more

  I had a Holiday Vacation goal. (I had several goals, but reading a book was one of them. ; ) Ancestry Discoveries was a great choice for many reasons. For one, I needed to complete an unfinished read from a while back, but the chaos of work life + personal life was getting the better of my time and attention span. 2- At the NAAP/ Right To Know Untangling Our Roots summit back in March-April, I made a promise to Annette Becklund, my table-mate at the authors’ booth section, that I would read and review her memoir. 3- This was a first experience for me in that I had never read an NPE (Not Pare ..read more

Ground Zero, by Alan Gratz Dual perspectives on events and emotions are depicted in this piece of historical fiction about September 11th, 2001. Brandon, a “tween”-aged boy and his dad are headed to the Twin Towers to his dad’s job. Brandon is off school and begrudgingly has to shadow his dad for the day instead of enjoying the warm, sunny afternoon. Unbeknownst to his single-parent father, he slips off to go to the shopping mall area when their tower is hit.  Almost 20 years later, in the hills of Afghanistan lives Reshmina, a “tween” girl with her parents, siblings and grandmother. They ..read more

https://paigestrickland.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/138320643/share-center I know it’s been a while (too long) since my last post about adoption themes in books, but believe me, I am reading every day, (when I am not working, child-caring, elder care-giving or cleaning my house). Reading is my thing and has been my thing long before I became an educator, care-giver or home owner. Teachers often say that kids learn to read and later read to learn. I live to read and also read to live. You know how we often say we sometimes find our pets and other times our pets find us? It’s also true abo ..read more

This post is for subscribers Type your email… Subscribe ..read more

Singer, composer, performer and musician, Mary Gauthier shares not only her personal story as an adoptee from the American south in the 1960s, but also the creative processes she has used to concoct innovative meals as a chef and also write and preform her ballads.  Much of the content of Gauthier’s memoir focuses mostly on her life as a performer and song/ music composer because in her earlier years she admits she knew certain generic facts about her birth story but “…for the first four decades of my life…” she did not give being adopted that much thought. Native to the New Orleans area ..read more

Review of Twice a Daughter by Julie Ryan McGue Author and adoptee advocate, Julie McGue’s memoir of her search and reunion for her biological family, Twice a Daughter, hooks the reader right away and immerses the reader into her loving, busy family life while she pursues her quest to find her birth relatives and obtain family medical history. Two of the biggest messages from this story are: 1- Adopted people, especially from closed adoptions are systematically denied their right to accurate health information which is worrisome and unfair, and this practice has to change. 2- Balancing the care ..read more

Review of:  I Must Have Wandered: An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls I Must Have Wandered is a lyrical and descriptive glimpse into the coming of age experiences of an adopted U.S. military daughter in the 1950s and 60s and her emergence into young adulthood as she explores issues with attachment, trust, identity and direction. This is a well-written must read for Baby-Boomer generation and Baby-Scoop Era adoptees. However, Gambutti’s style of story telling is something anyone adopted and questioning their existence and circumstances can relate to, regardless of age bracket/era.  ..read more

Martha Shideler is a Baby-Scoop-Era adoptee who was born in California, which is a closed records state. Her biological mother went to the Florence Crittenden Home for Unwed Mothers. Her memoir about searching for her biological family is engaging and a fast read. Shideler packs a lot into a short book and will resonate with the reader about wanting to feel a part of humanity by having heraldry and true facts. Shideler’s story is a perfect example of someone coming from a mostly “good” adoption, but still needing to feel whole and real.  Throughout the tale, Shideler must struggle against ..read more

My Unspeakable Loss, 2020, by Alicia Kay Lanier This is a birth / biological/ 1st parent memoir from the Baby Scoop Era. Alicia Kay is from Texas, a state deep in conservative beliefs which still sadly clings to the antiquated notion of sealed and falsified birth records being an accepted norm. She was unfortunately caught in a clash between her conservative, Christian fundamentalist upbringing while becoming a young adult during the greater societal changes of the 1960s and 70s.  Ms. Lanier shares in great detail about her whole life, and how she and her husband progressed in their caree ..read more