Booklist: Adoption in Juvenile and Teen Fiction

November is National Adoption Month and the Saturday before Thanksgiving is National Adoption Day.

From the National Adoption Day website in November 2007:
"This year marks the 10th anniversary of National Adoption Day, a national day of celebration of adoptive families and an opportunity for courts to open their doors and finalize the adoptions of children from foster care. Since 2000, more than 25,000 children have had their adoptions finalized on National Adoption Day. This year on November 21, families, adoption advocates, policymakers, judges and volunteers will come together and celebrate adoption in communities large and small all across the nation."

From the National Adoption Day website in November 2015:
"4,500 children were adopted by their forever families during the 15th annual National Adoption Day in 2014. 400 cities participated across the United States in 2014. National Adoption Day has helped move 54,500 children from foster care to a forever family since its inception in 2000."

This booklist was originally posted in November 2007 and is bumped up annually every November and intermittently whenever I discover additional titles. As I have not actively researched non-fiction books about adoption, this booklist contains only fiction.

Picture Books
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis, illustrated by Laura Cornell
Our Twitchy by Kes Gray, illustrated by Mary McQuillan
Little Miss Spider by David Kirk
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose A. Lewis, illustrated by Jane Dyer

Classics
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

Juvenile Contemporary Fiction
Where I'd Like to Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Pictures of Hollis Wood by Patricia Reilly Giff
Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent
Three of a Kind series by Marilyn Kaye
- #1 With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies
- #2 Home's a Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn't Want to Live There
- #3 Will the Real Becka Morgan Please Stand Up?
- #4 Two's Company, Four's a Crowd
- #5 Cat Morgan, Working Girl
- #6 101 Ways to Win Homecoming Queen
Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye by Lois Lowry
Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
Finding Ruby Starling by Karen Rivers

Juvenile Historical Fiction
The Orphan Train Adventures by Joan Lowery Nixon
This began as a quartet. I don't have any of the books on hand, so if this is not the proper order, please correct me!
- A Family Apart
- Caught in the Act
- In the Face of Danger
- Aggie's Home
- A Place to Belong
- A Dangerous Promise
- Keeping Secrets
- Circle of Love
- Lucy's Wish
- Will's Choice
- David's Search

Teen Fiction
The Janie books by Caroline B. Cooney
- The Face on the Milk Carton
- Whatever Happened to Janie?
- The Voice on the Radio
- What Janie Found
They Never Came Back by Caroline B. Cooney
The Last Chance Texaco by Brent Hartinger
Returnable Girl by Pamela Lowell
The Decoding of Lana Morris by Laura & Tom McNeal
The First Daughter books by Mitali Perkins
- Extreme American Makeover
- White House Rules
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt
Blackthorn Winter by Kathryn Reiss
The Indigo Notebook by Laura Resau (sequel: The Ruby Notebook)
The Lucky Kind by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
Riding the Universe by Gaby Triana
The Other Sister by S.T. Underdahl
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

Many thanks and kudos to author Rose Kent for urging folks to acknowledge National Adoption Month. Kent's novel, Kimchi & Calamari, revolves around a Korean kid who was adopted at near-birth by an Italian family. Now in middle school, when he has to write an essay about his heritage, he starts asking questions of his family and of himself. Read Rose Kent's thoughts as posted at Fuse #8.

Wikipedia offers a wide variety of adoption links, arranged by topic and country.

I dedicate this post to a little kid who once proudly and repeatedly told me she was 'dopted - just like that: "'Dopted! I'm 'dopted!" - clearly so still proud of her identity and family.

Here's a beautiful article by Kristin Chenowith honoring her adoption story. The piece closes with this:
"I have a lot of kids in my life who I love and mentor. So, in a way, I feel like I've done it, even though I don't have a child who lives with me. Whether we decide to become parents or simply volunteer our love and time, it's our job as a community to take care of our kids. On National Adoption Day, I hope you remember just that."

Related Booklist: Tough Issues in Teen Fiction

Related Post: Family: Daphne Grab