RECENTLY ADDED
Including Nearly 500 Adoptee-Recommended Titles!
Welcome!
Adoptee Reading helps adopted people discover books and other writing about adoption from the adoptee perspective.
Check out the Overview and How To Use This Site to learn more.
NEWS FOR ADOPTEE READERS
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The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen
The Minimalist is the second novel by Chinese adoptee Kailee Pedersen. Her first, Sacrificial Animals, was named a Best Horror Book of 2024 by the New York Times, and her…
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Let Us Know What We Missed
We need your help! These past several months, we were focused on technical issues with the Adoptee Reading website and likely overlooked some books that adoptees should know about. Please…
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Adoptee Reading Is Back!
Hello again, adoptee readers! Some of you may have noticed that Adoptee Reading has been inaccessible for many months. In late 2025, I realized that the site was being inundated…
NEWLY PUBLISHED
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Adoption Ruins and Unearthed Tokens: Baby Scoop Era Adoption Memoir
As far back as she could remember, Shirley Munro had always known that she was adopted. What she didn’t know, at first, was how those two words, “you’re adopted,” were… Read more
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An Accident of Birth: A Story of Adoption and Identity
When a stranger who turns out to be his niece receives an extra 23andMe test by mistake, it changes Alex Blum’s life forever. At the age of sixty, Alex Blum… Read more
RECENT MEMOIRS
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An Accident of Birth: A Story of Adoption and Identity
When a stranger who turns out to be his niece receives an extra 23andMe test by mistake, it changes Alex Blum’s life forever. At the age of sixty, Alex Blum… Read more
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Finding Mary Smith: A Memoir of Family Secrets, Gray Market Adoption, and the Miracle Reunion with My Mom
What if everything you knew about yourself turned out to be only half the story? Comedian Al Isaacs grew up as an only child with loving parents, a gift for… Read more
RECENT FICTION
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Second Choices: A Story of Belonging and Finding Home
Elise, an adoptee, had always felt like a second choice. When she fell in love with and married Evan, she believed she was finally someone’s first choice. She longed for… Read more
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Phantom Parents: Memoir of an Adoptee
An unusual adoption, a gruesome family discovery, a lonesome journey through North America, a miraculous death escape at the 7/7 bombings in the London Underground and a life-altering diagnosis are just… Read more
RECENT PSYCHOLOGY/SELF-HELP
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Pulled by the Root: An Adoptee’s Healing Journey From Trauma, Shame, and Loss
Adoption involves complex trauma that, if unhealed and unheard, will pulse through subsequent generations. Pulled by the Root is a raw, vivid, and cinematic account of Heidi Marble’s lived experience as an adopted person. The story is led by Heidi as she pieces together her… Read more
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Adoption and Suicidality: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Resources for Adoptees, Families, Healthcare Professionals, and Allies
This book is a wake-up call to those impacted by adoption and to those who interact with them. According to preliminary results of a groundbreaking study out of Winston-Salem State University (final report targeted for release in 2025), adopted people are 36.7 times more likely… Read more
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The Adoptee’s Journey: From Loss and Trauma to Healing and Empowerment
Adoption is often framed by happy narratives, but the reality is that many adoptees struggle with unaddressed trauma and issues of identity and belonging. Adoptees often spend the majority of their youth without the language to explore the grief related to adoption or the permission… Read more
RECENT JOURNALISM & RESEARCH
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On Human Adoption: and the Manufacture of Identity
What is adoption, really? On Human Adoption begins where most adoption narratives end: not with the social idea of rescue, but with what follows. Using New Zealand as a case study, a country whose adoption legislation both mirrors and illuminates the intent of adoption law across… Read more
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What They Stole: A Familicide Rooted in Intercountry Adoption
In 1955, following the devastation of the Korean War, Bertha and Harry Holt made headlines for adopting eight Korean children. Driven by evangelical convictions and emboldened by a special act of Congress, the couple founded the Holt Adoption Program, which would facilitate the migration of… Read more
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The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption in Perspective
Adoption impacts countless families worldwide, yet the voices of those directly involved—especially adoptees, the central focus of the process—are rarely highlighted. In The Adoption Paradox, nearly one hundred individuals are interviewed, from domestic, international, and transracial adoptions, as well as foster care, along with adoptive… Read more
RECENT ANTHOLOGIES
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Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship
What’s it like when a complete unknown is actually close family? In Relative Strangers: Inheritance, Identity, and the Meaning of Kinship—a provocative anthology curated by B.K. Jackson, with a foreword by… Read more
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Adoption and Suicidality: An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Resources for Adoptees, Families, Healthcare Professionals, and Allies
This book is a wake-up call to those impacted by adoption and to those who interact with them. According to preliminary results of a groundbreaking study out of Winston-Salem State… Read more
RECENT POETRY
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Hour of the Ox
Hour of the Ox received the 2015 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, selected by Crystal Ann Williams, who called it “a timeless collection written by a poet of exceptional talent… Read more
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Almost Loved: Poems
“What if you spend the rest of your life chasing love, only to find her cowering in the pit of your stomach? What then?” Almost Loved follows a former foster child’s… Read more
RECENT CHILDREN/TEENS
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Casey Conquers Bedtime
Casey doesn’t like bedtime. His parents introduce him to Dr. Chaitra, a transracial adoptee just like Casey, who explains how going to sleep and even waking up can bring up scary… Read more
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Marie Discovers Her Superpowers
Marie doesn’t want to go to the park anymore. Mom introduces her to Dr. Chaitra, a transracial adoptee just like Marie, who helps kids talk about tough feelings. In therapy, Marie… Read more