The Best Children's Books About Adoption (Reviewed by an Adoptive Parent)

Finding the right children’s book about adoption is harder than it should be. Many adoption books are too saccharine, or too focused on the adoptive parent’s perspective, or lean into framings that adoptees themselves have criticized. This list prioritizes books that adoptees and thoughtful adoption professionals consistently recommend.

Organized by age range and by specific adoption situation.

Ages 2–4: Foundation books

A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

A bird who doesn’t look like his adoptive mother finds his family. Gentle, reassuring. Often the first adoption book on a family’s shelf.

The Day We Met You by Phoebe Koehler

The day an adoptive family met their child. Warm without being saccharine.

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis

A child asking her parents to tell her adoption story — which is also the book. Jamie Lee Curtis handles adoption with unusual care.

I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis

A story of international adoption, specifically from China. For families where this matches.

Ages 4–6: More developed stories

Forever Fingerprints by Sherrie Eldridge

Sherrie Eldridge was a prominent adoptee advocate. This book introduces the concept of birth family connections through the metaphor of fingerprints — unique and inherited.

Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale by Karen Katz

A rhythmic, warm picture book about international adoption.

The Mulberry Bird by Anne Braff Brodzinsky

Notable for handling the complexity of birth parent decision-making with grace. One of the most-recommended books by adoption professionals.

Mommy Far, Mommy Near by Carol Antoinette Peacock

For international adoptees — honors the distant birth mother while celebrating the close adoptive mother.

Ages 6–8: Real depth

The Red Blanket by Eliza Thomas

A story about a child and the red blanket that accompanied her through adoption. Quiet, powerful.

Just Right Family by Silvia Lopez

A family growing through adoption, told from the child’s perspective as they consider their role.

Star of the Week by Darlene Friedman

A school project where each kid brings items from home — and an adopted child’s experience of that moment.

I Don’t Have Your Eyes by Carrie A. Kitze

For internationally adopted kids, acknowledging the physical differences between them and adoptive parents with warmth.

The Invisible String by Patrice Karst

Not adoption-specific, but beloved by adoptive families — an assurance that love connects us even when we’re apart.

Ages 8–10: Older readers

Pinduli by Janell Cannon

An African-setting allegorical story about belonging and identity. Works well for transracial or international adoptees.

When I Met You by Adrian Roe

A chapter-book-length story about adoption, suitable for older elementary readers.

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson (middle grade)

A foster-care-adjacent story that handles complex feelings about family honestly.

By specific adoption situation

Foster-to-adopt

• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
• A Family Is a Family Is a Family by Sara O’Leary
• The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland

International adoption

• I Love You Like Crazy Cakes by Rose Lewis (China)
• Mommy Far, Mommy Near by Carol Antoinette Peacock
• Kids Like Me in China by Ying Ying Fry

Transracial adoption

• Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs (biracial identity, relevant to transracial adoptees)
• All the Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger
• We Adopted You, Benjamin Koo by Linda Walvoord Girard

Open adoption

• Megan’s Birthday Tree by Laurie Lears
• Why Was I Adopted? by Carole Livingston (older)
• Did My First Mother Love Me? by Kathryn Ann Miller

Same-sex parent adoption

• And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell
• Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer
• Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman

What to avoid

A few categories of adoption books that consistently land poorly:

• “Chosen baby” narratives where adoptive parents are framed as heroes
• Books that shame or demonize birth parents
• Books that frame adoption as “rescuing” the child
• Books that avoid the reality of birth parent loss entirely
• Books where the child’s feelings aren’t acknowledged

Good adoption books hold complexity. They celebrate without erasing loss. They honor all sides.

The personalized adoption book

No book on this list stars your specific kid. At Akoni Books, we make personalized adoption storybooks where your child is the illustrated hero — with themes specifically designed for adoption experiences:

• “The Day We Became a Family” — Gotcha Day celebration
• “Two Beginnings, One Story” — honoring birth family alongside adoptive family
• “Where I Came From, Where I Belong” — for international adoptions
• “My Whole Big Family Tree” — roots and branches

Read alongside the classics above, the personalized book becomes the anchor of your kid’s adoption-themed library — the book where they are unmistakably the hero.

Create a personalized adoption book →

Building the shelf over time

A practical approach: one new adoption-themed book every Gotcha Day, starting from age 2. Plus one personalized book at some point (maybe age 5, when the story really starts landing).

Over ten years, your child has a curated adoption library of 10+ books, specifically chosen for them, that grew alongside their own understanding.

That’s a shelf that says something important: your story is real, it’s significant, and it’s been treated with the care it deserves.

Start tonight with one book.