My Adopted Child, There's No One Like You

My Adopted Child, There’s No One Like You

By Dr. Kevin Leman & Kevin Leman II

Illustrated by Kevin Leman II

Panda has an assignment from school: he needs to draw his family tree and bring it to show the class. Panda’s afraid, though. His family isn’t like other families because he’s a panda and his mom and dad are brown bears. Panda goes home from school feeling sad. His Mama Bear explains to him again, while munching on his mom’s eucalyptus and honey cookies, about how he came into their family. Panda comes to realize that different is okay. His family is different, interesting, exciting, and special.

For a small book, there’s really a lot to unpack here. When purchasing the book, you may want to know ahead of time that this story is about a child who looks obviously different from his adoptive parents. Not good or bad—just something to be aware of before you purchase, depending on your situation. The illustrations in this book are simple but a lot of fun and still manage to convey a lot of emotion. I really appreciated that when Mama Bear is telling Panda about why she and Papa Bear wanted to adopt a cub her reasoning behind adoption is vague. This allows the book to appeal to a wider audience. I also enjoyed the symbolism behind the eucalyptus honey cookies to demonstrate how two things that appear dissimilar can end up being wonderful together. There is also a place for the child to interact with the book in the back by creating his or her own family tree.

That leads me to a few things I did not appreciate about the book. The book did not address where the birth mother should go on a family tree. Maybe it depends on the child, but I imagine that most children would want their birth parents to show up on a family tree somewhere, even if they never knew their birth parents. I also wished that Papa Bear could have been involved in the discussion. So many adoption books for kids show the mom talking with her child. Where’s dad? And my last critique is a nit-picky wording issue: When Mama bear is talking about Panda’s birth mother choosing to give Panda up, Mama Bear describes it as “the most loving thing she could do.” In such multi-faceted issues as adoption, I’m a little uncomfortable with such an absolute statement.

This is a lot of review for a little book. Overall, its a treasure for talking about adoption with a child. Check it out! And if you enjoy My Adopted Child, There's No One Like You, Dr. Kevin Leman has a whole series of birth order books for children. 

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