I’ve been delighted to see that over the last few years, there have been a number of great adoption books written by adoptive parents as well as practitioners. They help children gain a deeper understanding of what is a complex and difficult subject in a child-friendly way.

Here’s a list of our seven favourite books that help younger children, whether they’re adopted or not, understand the concept of adoption a bit more. The books have really helped our children understand their adoption journey and the process of how they came to live with us.

This article includes affiliate links for the books. That means if you click on the link to the book and then buy it, I get paid a fee from Amazon.

The Blanket Bears written by Samuel Langley Swain

The Blanket Bears is our favourite book about adoption. Our eldest daughter went through a stage where she wanted this as her bedtime story every night for weeks. The book is written by Samuel Langley-Swain, an adoptive dad, and beautifully illustrated by Ashlee Spink.

It’s a story about two little bears who had no one to look after them. It explores big issues like foster care and adoption in a lovely, gentle way. The bears are very frightened at the start of the book and the story explores why that is and how their social worker found them a safe place to live.

The story then looks at how their foster parents and adoptive family help the little bears to feel safe and loved. It’s a great book to explain the basics of adoption to all children.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Olly & Lilly written by Matt Flukes, illustrated by Lucie Cooke

Olly and Lilly, written by Matt Fluke, an adoptive dad, is another brilliant book which explains to children why sometimes families can’t live together. Matt explains his motivation for writing the book:

“I wanted to encapsulate the fear, loss and concerns that adopted children face but also harness their sheer positivity and hope for the future for all children. The book is aimed at children aged 4-7, to help them understand their situation. It is valid for all children not just adopted children, as it discusses families, love, goals, challenges, hopes and wishes that all children have, whilst also acting as a key PHSE resource for schools. The parent bikes are non-gender specific, making the story applicable to all types of families.”

The story is about Olly and Lilly who are two bikes looking for a new forever racing team as their mummy has stopped working properly and can’t look after them. The first garage they move to doesn’t feel quite right, even though everyone was really nice to them. This shows why children sometimes have to move to different foster carers until they find the right care to suit their needs.

It’s an engaging and fun book which deals with big issues sensitively, to gently explain why sometimes parents can’t look after their children. It deals with some of the emotions children experience when they’re moved into foster care and then adoption such as separation and loss.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

The Family Fairies written by Rosemary Lucas

The Family Fairies was written by adoptive mum Rosemary Lucas to help explain the adoption process to children. It’s a rhyming storybook following the journey of a couple on their search to find their forever family. 

It’s a lovely children’s book and is written in an age-appropriate way, to help adopted children understand the different roles of the people involved in finding their forever family. Social workers and foster carers are referred to as “Family Fairies” which is a great way of engaging young children to help them understand what the different roles are.

My children love the fairies. We use the book as a tool to talk about the story of their adoption giving the fairies the names of their social workers and foster families. It’s also a great book to help children who aren’t adopted, understand the process.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Eddy Finds a Family written by Sarah McGeough, illustrated by Stephanie Lidbetter

Eddy Finds a Family is written by adoptive mum Sarah McGeough, and beautifully illustrated by Stephanie Lidbetter. The first thing my kids loved about the book was the gorgeous, vibrant illustrations. They both love flamingos so Flossy and Frank were a big hit with them straight away.

The story follows Flossy and Frank as they learn about adoption and decide it’s the way they want to create their family. The focus then moves to Eddy, a little Emu who was living with a foster frog. Eddy’s parents weren’t able to look after him and Stella Stork is looking for a family for him. She decides Flossy and Frank would be great parents for Eddy and the story then explores how they all get ready to meet each other.

The book helps to explain some of the feelings older children may feel about adoption as the story doesn’t just cover how Flossy and Frank are feeling before they meet Eddy. It also explores his feelings and thoughts about meeting his new family.

He has worries about what it’s going to be like and what if they don’t like each other. This helps older children see that their feelings are normal and also helps their friends and family understand what they’ve been through.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Tippy Moffles Mirror written by Mikenda Plant

Tippy Moffle’s Mirror is one of my favourite adoption books for children. It’s written by Mikenda Plant and I love the way she uses colour to represent different emotions.

Tippy’s tummy mummy, Poppy, has bright blue fur which reflects the deep sadness she’s experienced in her life. The story starts with Tippy’s early life with her mum. She tried her best to make her mum happy, but because Poppy was so full of sadness, that was hard to do. The harder Tippy tried, the more her fur turned flat, grey and dusty.

The story explores what happens when a parent can’t look after their child and the kind of help and support they might be given to improve things. And then why children sometimes struggle to settle with a new family in case they think they’re not good enough.

The book covers some really big issues like neglect, in a gentle way. It helps children understand that not everyone knows how to look after a baby or a child. And that it’s normal to experience a whole range of different emotions.

I first read this book with my eldest at a time when she was really struggling with her emotions. It helped her understand that we all experience a wide range of feelings, some good, some not so nice.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Billy Moffles Straight Lines written by Mikenda Plant

There are a lot of children’s adoption books on the market which explain the adoption process. They use engaging characters to explain the adoption process and also the role of adoption professionals such as social workers.

Finding a book that explains to young children what domestic violence and neglect are, isn’t so easy. And let’s face it, in an ideal world, it’s not a topic we’d want our children to have to learn about. But the sad reality is many adopted children experience trauma because of violence between their birth parents, and neglect as a result of that.

Mikenda’s second book looks at the impact feeling scared of who you live with, can have on children and adults. And also how that feeling can affect how you manage other things. In this story, Billy’s birth mother, Daisy, isn’t able to give him the care and love he needs, because all her focus is on making her boyfriend happy so that she doesn’t feel so afraid.

The story looks at why this behaviour doesn’t keep Billy safe. And what happens when a child has to leave that situation and live with a new family. When he’s with his new family, it takes Billy a long time to realise that he’s safe and that his new mummy and daddy won’t leave him to look after himself, like Daisy did. He spent a lot of time tidying and keeping everything straight as he worried if he didn’t, his new daddy would get angry with him.

This is such a good book to have in your toolkit. It’s started some really good conversations with our eldest daughter about feeling scared.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Adopting a Little Brother or Sister written by Holly Marlow

This is a lovely book to help explain the process to children who are going to become a brother or sister through adoption.

The story is about a little boy whose family are adopting a little brother or sister. It explains the stages in an age-appropriate way, introducing people like social workers and the role they have.

This is another book I wish had been around for our eldest daughter. I think she struggled to understand what our social worker did during the assessment for our youngest. She remembered our original social worker from when we adopted her because she’d seen photos of her in her life storybook. Meeting a new social worker was confusing for her. Being able to read a book like this would’ve really helped.

The book looks at what the social worker’s job is and the types of questions they might ask. This part really resonated with me because I can remember our daughter being asked how she would feel about sharing her toys with her little sister. She said she’d be happy to share them, as long as her little sister looked after them and gave them back.

The story then moves on to look at what happens when a child finds out about their little brother or sister and the mechanics of bringing them home. There are some great questions at the end of the book to use to start conversations with your child about becoming a brother or sister through adoption.

The book is perfect for biological and adopted children to read to help them understand the process of becoming a sibling through adoption. It’s also a great read for their friends, so they can understand it too.

You can buy the book from Amazon.

Bridie’s New Family, written by Flo Jackman

Bridie’s New Family is a charming rhyming story written by Flo Jackman to help children understand their birth history and journey to their family. The story was written to help Flo’s daughter make sense of her early life and understand why she couldn’t live with her first family.

The book guides a child through the adoption process, addressing the significant issues of why they couldn’t live with their first family, the court process, and family finding in an age-appropriate manner.

The story is about a child who is two, but you can easily adapt the story as you tell it to the age of your child, helping them to understand their unique story. You could also change the details about the character’s hair and other characteristics and memories to tailor it exactly to your child.

Bridie’s New Family gently introduces the big concepts of adoption, helping your child understand how their birth history brought them to where they are now, which is key in developing a sense of belonging. It’s a brilliant resource to use from an early age as part of their life story work and as a tool to start conversations at your child’s pace to talk about their first family, as well as things like introductions and early memories from them coming home.

Young children can struggle to understand the often complex issues around why their first family couldn’t care for them, and this story is a great way of introducing the concepts around adoption from an early age, in a way that helps them feel loved and heard.

Bridie’s New Family is suitable for children up to around the age of eight. You can buy the book from Amazon.

The Day My Heart Grew written by Emma Perkins

Adoption is complex, which makes it difficult for children to understand why or how things happened and why they no longer live with their birth families.

That’s why books like “The Day My Heart Grew” are so important, particularly for younger children, so they can read and learn about adoption in a simple way, helping them understand the basics that they can build on as they grow.

“The Day My Heart Grew” is a rhyming storybook written by Emma Perkins and beautifully illustrated by Hannah Steele, whose stunning penguin illustrations bring the words to life.

The rhyming story centres around a penguin who wants to grow their family through adption and gently explains how adoptive families come together. It makes a great resource to introduce adoption to younger children, and as a tool for starting conversations about life story work as they grow older, encouraging them to ask questions about their journey from foster care to coming home, and talk about their feelings.

The book is suitable for children of all ages and can be adapted when it’s read to a child, to suit their circumstances. Head to the Emma’s website to find out more details about the book and buy your copy.

Head to the book review section to find out about other wonderful adoption books for kids.

Rosemary’s new book The Family Puzzle is out now. I asked her to share with us what the book is about and how she found writing the second book in her series.

Please note this article includes an affiliate link to the book. That means if you click on the link and then buy it, I get paid a fee from Amazon.

The Family Puzzle

It’s finally here! The second book in my Family Fairies series – The Family Puzzle.

This one proved more challenging than I would have liked. After the welcome success of The Family Faires, I didn’t want to disappoint the hugely supportive audience I have created. Sequels are definitely tricky!

But it wasn’t just this. I gave myself quite a tall order. I wanted to continue the theme and feel of book one but needed to position it differently. The next step up on the journey of understanding what children go through. It was time to approach not just the “how” of adoption, but also the “why”.

Of course, this is hugely wide ranging for each child. Their individual life stories are personal to them. Starting conversations around it can be hard. I wanted to provide some guidance but was conscious about creating more questions than answers. It took me I long time to realise that in fact, this is the exact point and purpose! To lay the path of that all-important, very winding, road through adoption.

The Family Fairies was specifically written with adoptees in mind. The “big reveal” was designed to show them it was their story. The Family Puzzle welcomes a much wider audience, not just adoptive families. Whether that be friends and family of those adopting, school children, or just to compliment the need to educate all on the way some families come together. Something I am very passionate about.

The right terminology

Using the right terminology has always been key in my storyboarding. Not wanting to use misleading or confusing language. Avoiding topics that might worry or set back a child. I was therefore thrilled to get input from respected social workers, adoptive parents, and parents of children whose family and friends had adopted. All key in ensuring the pitch, tone, and pace of the book were spot on.

Taking on board their feedback (and compliments!) was invaluable to position the story at the right level and supported my quest for the story to reflect real life. The book doesn’t shy away from the emotions that adoption generates. But it is gentle and comforting. Someone once said to me that adoption is “beautifully heartbreaking”, and I kept this sentiment close to me throughout the writing process.

One of the most exciting, proudest, parts of the book is the unique way it features actual adoptive families through the use of quirky, vibrant, and engaging illustrations. I had the idea that it should be a book for the adoption community, from the adoption community. I not only reached out to get a sense of words and sentiments that best described people’s adoption experience, but also to see if anyone would like to appear as caricatures.

The response blew me away. Images to base them on were sent through, as well as important books, toys, and teddies to be included – personal touches from introductions or milestone events.  I am utterly thrilled with the outcome and very thankful to my talented (and patient) illustrator.

Representing all families

With the inclusion of so many families, I am proud to say The Family Puzzle covers many different family make-ups. I had so many same-sex and single parents getting in touch to see if I had a version of The Family Fairies just for them. Although I have no plans to rewrite it, this new book celebrates all families and shows that they may look different but are grounded by a deep love and urge to protect.

The Family Puzzle is a book for all bookshelves, and I hope you enjoy it! It is available to buy now from Amazon.

If you’d like to read the review of Family Fairies and other adoption and parenting books, click here.

I was really excited when Sarah McGeough got in touch to introduce me to her books. “Eddy Finds a Family” is her debut book which she wrote during the first lockdown in 2020. She wrote it to help her son understand what adoption is and how it created their family. If you’d like to read Sarah’s article about her adoption journey and what motivated her to write her books, click here.

I was kindly gifted a copy of the book so I could review it. You can find out more about Sarah’s books from her website and you can follow her on Instagram.

Eddy Finds a Family

“Eddy Finds a Family” is beautifully illustrated by Stephanie Lidbetter. The story starts by introducing Flossy and Frank, two flamingos who longed to have a family. Their friend suggests adoption might be a great way for them to become parents. The story follows Flossy and Frank as they discover more about adoption and decide it’s the way they want to create their family.

The story then moves on to focus on Eddy, a little Emu who was living with a foster frog. Eddy’s parents weren’t able to look after him and Stella Stork is looking for a family for him. She decides Flossy and Frank would be great parents for Eddy and the story then explores how they all get ready to meet each other.

The final page of the book gives a great explanation of what adoption is. It explains that not all families are made in the same way and explores some of the feelings a child might feel about all of it.

“Eddy Finds a Family” is a lovely story which tackles big issues like adoption and birth parents not being able to care for their child, in a gentle, child friendly way. I love how colourful and bold the characters and illustrations are and how the story explains the adoption process.

Life story tool

Our eldest daughter really enjoyed the book. She read it to her younger sister and understood the story straight away. When the story talked about Eddy living with a foster frog, she tried to explain to her sister that it was like when they lived with their foster carers. That started a lovely conversation with our eldest about her time living with their foster carers.

Our youngest loves looking at the pictures in her life story book, but she’s not interested in the words. Using a book like “Eddy Finds a Family” is a great way for us to introduce the concept of adoption, and words like social worker and foster carer. Hopefully, when she’s ready, she’ll have a better understanding of how that relates to her history.

Whilst the book is a great resource for all adoptive families, I think it will be of huge benefit to children who are a bit older when they’re adopted. The story doesn’t just cover how Flossy and Frank are feeling before they meet Eddy. It also explores his feelings and thoughts about meeting his new family. He has worries about what it’s going to be like and what if they don’t like each other? I think that will help older children understand that any feelings they had or have like that, are completely natural.

The book would also be a great resource for foster carers. Particularly when they’re preparing older children for the move to their new family.

I’d definitely recommend Eddy Finds a Family to all parents as a great way of helping their kids understand adoption. You can buy the book from Sarah’s website or from Amazon.

Click here to read more book reviews.

Please note that this review includes an affiliate link for the book. That means if you click on the link to the book through Amazon, and then buy it, I get paid a fee from Amazon.

This can be even harder when the younger sibling comes into the family via adoption. They arrive having already lived somewhere else and so have developed likes, dislikes and routines. The best way for them to feel happy and settled with their new family, is to keep things the same as much as possible.

That usually means big brother or sister is the one who has their routine disrupted. It’s hard trying to manage the two different needs for consistency when the two routines are very different.

We definitely found this when we brought our youngest daughter home. She was almost six months old so obviously needed a lot of attention. Our eldest daughter had just started school and had very different needs for consistency. It was a difficult time trying to manage their needs around two very different routines.

“So You’ve Adopted a Sibling”

There weren’t any books around at that time to help our eldest understand what was happening. I was therefore delighted to hear that Holly Marlow had written another book to help children who are becoming an older sibling through adoption. The book was written with Holly’s birth daughter in mind, but it works just as well for an adopted child who’s going to become an older sibling through adoption.

Holly asked me to review “So You’ve Adopted a Sibling” and kindly gifted me an electronic version of the book. Once again, the wonderful illustrations have been created by her daughter. The book has the same theme as “Adopting a Little Brother or Sister” It has a striking black background, and the illustrations are created in chalk, giving it the look of being written on a blackboard. I think this works brilliantly for a children’s book.

The book is written from the perspective of a child who has a little brother who came to their family through adoption. It’s their tips for other children who are becoming older siblings.

Tips about becoming a sibling through adoption

The tips start with making sure you eat your favourite food first so you’re little brother or sister doesn’t try and pinch it. This made me laugh because that’s exactly what happens in our house! Our eldest always eats fruit / veg first and then leaves the good stuff til last. Our youngest does the exact opposite and then wants the good bits from her sister’s plate.

There’s great tips about compromising, taking it in turns, how to keep favourite toys safe, coping with the noise a baby makes and so much more. All big lessons but because they’re written from the perspective of a child, they won’t feel like an adult telling a child what to do. Children will think of it as a friend talking to them about how it was for them.

I’d definitely recommend “So You’ve Adopted a Sibling” to anyone who is adopting a younger sibling, to give their older child some tools to use to cope. Our eldest daughter thought the book was great and said she wished she’d been able to read it before her baby sister came home. She thought the tip about wearing goggles in the bath was spot on!

You can find out more about Holly from her website or follow her on Instagram or Facebook. Her books are available to buy from Amazon and Waterstones.

If you’d like to read more book reviews, including reviews of Holly’s first two books, click here.

This review includes an affiliate link through Amazon for the book. That means if you click on the link in the article to the book, and then buy it, I get paid a fee from Amazon.