If you have any questions about ordering books, please contact us. Click here for order form.

The Lucky Ones: Our Stories of Adopting Children From China

We're pleased to be able to offer copies of a brand new Canadian book: The Lucky Ones, an anthology of memoirs about adoption. The stories have been compiled and edited by Ann Rauhala, adoptive mom and FCC Toronto member. Jan Wong has written the foreword and the book will be published in early April by ECW Press. The book includes stories by Denise Davy, Sarah Giddens, Havard Gould, Tess Kalinowski, Margaret Lawson, Lilian Nattel, Shelley Page, Sonja Smits, Evan Solomon and others familiar FCC and adoptive parent names. FCC Toronto is selling this book for $15.00 plus shipping and handling ($3 within Ontario and $4 outside Ontario). The book will be ready for publication in early April and we will be shipping it as soon as it's ready. Ann is graciously donating all her profits from the sale of the book to FCC Charitable Foundation and The Children's Bridge Foundation. All FCC Toronto profits from the sale of the book benefit FCC Toronto activities, including our annual contribution to FCC Charitable Fund. In other words, ALL profits from the sale of this book will be put to good use, so we hope that you'll consider purchasing it through FCC Toronto rather than from other places that we won't name even though they might offer you free shipping. Please return your order form and cheque payable to FCC Toronto to FCC Toronto, Box 808, Station F, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2N7.

Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son, Abandonment, Adoption and Orphanage Care in China

Kay Johnson is Professor of Asian Studies and Politics at Hampshire College. Her teaching and research interests include Chinese society and politics; women, development and population policy. Johnson brings the skills of a China specialist who has spent over a decade researching her subject. She also brings the concerns of an adoptive parent who hopes that this book might help others find answers to the question: What can we tell our children about why they were abandoned and why they were available for international adoption?

Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son is $36 per copy for mail orders in Ontario and $37.50 outside of Ontario and $30 per copy for "pick-up" orders.

The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Love of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another

This new book from Cindy Champnella, a 2003 release by St. Martin's Press, is the true story of a family that adopted a four-year old girl from China. They were armed and prepared for all of the adjustments and challenges that they expected might accompany the adoption of an older child, but were totally unprepared for what actually followed. Within days, Jaclyn began to communicate about "her baby", a young child that she cared for in the orphanage.

This is Jaclyn's story about her campaign to bring "Xiao Mei Mei" to live with her and her new family in the United States. When they go to the orphanage with Jaclyn so she can say "good by" to her former charge, the depth of the relationship is revealed as Jaclyn gently rocks and caresses the child while soothing his tears. Certain that one so young will be able to put her past behind her, the Champnellas focus on acclimating her to her new life. As her language develops, Jaclyn shares more and more about "her baby" and how she needed to steal food for him; his small size meant he was a victim in the "survival of the fittest" system among the children in the institution. Her insistent pleading spurs the Champnellas to attempt an "identified" adoption, a favor that is rarely granted by the Chinese officials.

The Waiting Child is $35 per copy for mail orders in Ontario and $36.50 outside of Ontario and $29 per copy for "pick-up" orders.

We See The Moon

FCC Toronto is pleased to be able to offer copies of "We See the Moon", a new children's book by Carrie Kitze. This book is written especially for children adopted from China. It is written from the child's perspective, asking the questions that dwell in their hearts about their birthparents. What do you look like? Where are you now? Do you think of me? The story also uses the Chinese Autumn Moon tradition of gazing at the moon as a link to relatives far away and unknown.

The book is in hardcover and is beautifully illustrated with Chinese peasant paintings, and provides an opportunity for to initiate discussions about adoption and birthparents from the child's perspective.

Each copy is autographed by Carrie Kitze and for books purchased through FCC Toronto, we are also providing a copy of a 7-page parent's guide to "We See the Moon". This guide gives some additional background on the meaning of the story and provides suggestions on how to use the book to enhance discussions with your child about her adoption story. The guide was written by Jane Brown, M.S.W., a well-known adoption professional and an adoptive parent herself several times over.

We See the Moon is $32 per copy for mail orders in Ontario and $33.50 outside of Ontario and $26 per copy for "pick-up" orders.

Kids Like Me in China

This book provides a child's perspective of adoption from China, as eight-year-old Ying Ying Fry returns to her orphanage to remember what it is like and to write a story so that other adopted children will understand where they came from. Kids Like Me in China combines real-life photos with the forthright observations and complex feelings of an adopted child as she meets caregivers and befriends children in the city where her life began.

Ying Ying Fry is in third grade at the Chinese American International School in San Francisco, where she studies all subjects in both English and Mandarin, and was adopted from the Changsha Social Welfare Institute in Hunan Province. This 44-page, fully illustrated book was written with help from her mom, Amy Klatzkin, a contributing editor to Adoptive Families Magazine and the editor of A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China

FCC New York Member James Weaver has provided the following review of this book: "Kids Like Me in China is a valuable addition to the library of any China family for several reasons. First, it will give both children and parents a picture of what life in one social welfare institute may have been like in China before they were adopted. Second, it will provide a natural and unforced stimulus for discussion of a variety of topics that many parents have difficulty bringing up for discussion. These might include how the child feels about being adopted, birthparents, orphanage life and others. Next, it provides the parents with a view of how their children might feel about many of the adoption-related issues we all wrestle with. It is the first of many books that will be written by the children themselves telling their stories. Finally, it is a well-written and very entertaining book."

The book is priced at $25 per copy plus $4 for shipping and handling. Please return your order to FCC Toronto at Box 808, Station F, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2N7.

When You Were Born in China

This 42-page hardcover book, by Sara Dorow (with over 100 black and white photographs by Stephen Wunrow), is a moving photo-essay that provides a child's eye look at Chinese adoptions, helping to explain some the "whys" and "hows" that have brought these children to their new families. With sensitive text and touching photography, When You Were Born In China brings the whole process of Chinese international adoption to a personal scale. The book speaks directly to the adopted child, assuring her that hers is a special story, one that started in an ancient and amazing country. The text then suggests that maybe the reader has a few questions about her story, how she was born in China, who might have known her then, and how she came to be adopted. It then provides a brief overview of some of the factors that may have contributed to her story, such as China's population control policies and the cultural desire to have a son. It goes on to tell the story of what might have happened to the reader: life in an orphanage or a foster home, perhaps, and then the formal adoption process leading up to meeting her new mom or dad for the first time, and finally the flight home.

This book will be invaluable to adoptive parents who are looking for just the right words to help their child understand some of the factors that brought them together. It sensitively addresses the difficult issue of why birthparents felt they could not care for their child, and it provides some context for the whole process. The book will be enjoyed by school-agers and adults, and can be read or paraphrased to younger children as a wonderful way to integrate these topics into their daily lives.

FCC Toronto is making copies of this superb book available to members for the price of $24 per copy. This price includes all shipping and taxes. (Compare to the publisher's price for individual copies of US $16 plus US $5 for shipping!) Publisher Brian Boyd has kindly made arrangements to discount prices to FCC chapters in order to encourage bulk orders and to permit FCC chapters to earn some income for their activities. In effect, you can buy the book for less than it would cost you for a direct order (think about exchange costs, US money order fees, GST and the like) while FCC Toronto can earn a bit of money at the same time. A true win-win situation for everyone!

We think that many members may want more than one copy as a permanent "non-dog-eared" reference copy or for grandparents and other family members.

Please make your cheques payable to FCC Toronto and mail to Box 808, Station F, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2N7

A Passage to the Heart

The publisher of When You Were Born in China, through the efforts of editor Amy Klatzkin, has just published an anthology of the best articles about the China adoptive experience. A Passage to the Heart gathers together more than 100 articles published over the past few years in the regional newsletters of Families with Children from China (including the following five from our very own Toronto chapter: Sylvie Doyon, How Old Is She?; Cathy Forrest, Shao Yin; Laura Cowan, Perspectives on the First Year; Rongrong Shen, Chinese Culture in the Home: A Caregiver's Perspective; Dianne Holdaway, Would You Do It Again?)

Writing mainly from personal experience as adoptive parents, authors discuss the waiting period, the adoption journey, settling in, health and development, adoption after infancy, single parenting, perspectives from China, culture, language, identity, race, going back, birth parents and other adoption issues. By turns funny, moving, practical and deeply personal, this collection is a treasure trove for any family who has adopted or is planning to adopt from China. The publisher's proceeds from the book will benefit the Amity Foundation and the Foundation for Chinese Orphanages.

The book, in hardcover format, contains 368 pages and is priced at $30 for mail orders and $26 for "pick-up" orders. Please return your order to FCC Toronto at Box 808, Station F, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 2N7.