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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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
RECENT MEMOIRS
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P.S. I Think of You Often: A Journey Into Understanding
Some questions follow us from the beginning. Brenda Laface was adopted as an infant. She built a life that looked complete from the outside: a marriage, a family, the roles… Read more
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Weirdo: Tales of a Geek Adoptee
Weirdo: Tales of a Geek Adoptee delivers an inside look at adoption during the Baby Scoop Era, chronicling a shocking part of American history that should never be forgotten. Relinquished for… Read more
RECENT FICTION
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When the Ocean Flies
An email from a stranger tells Alison Earley that her natural father, whom she has known for only six years, has died suddenly. What begins as a short trip back… Read more
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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
RECENT PSYCHOLOGY/SELF-HELP
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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 feelings for adopted kids. She helps Casey think about bedtime differently and combines a special… 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 finds the courage to share how she felt when a family at the park peppered… Read more
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P.S. I Think of You Often: A Journey Into Understanding
Some questions follow us from the beginning. Brenda Laface was adopted as an infant. She built a life that looked complete from the outside: a marriage, a family, the roles that society had already drawn the outline for. But the questions she carried about who… 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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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
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In Praise of Late Wonder
In his most personal collection of poems to date, California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick writes with openness about his adoption from Korea in more than 25 new memoir-like prose poems.… 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