I could not believe how similar our adoption experience was to that portrayed here. Beautiful artistry and very sweet. Airplane on the front cover really sold my daughter and us from the start. Somehow that airplane ride home, though excrutiatingly painful at the time, will always speak volumes to my child about how important she is to us. How can you put the international adoption experience in a book? This author did a fantastic job of capturing the high points that relate to every Russian adoption.

I received this book when it was first published -- and I love it -- it's the first children's book I found about the Eastern European adoption experience. While it doesn't specifically cover Romania (our country of adoption), it is a wonderful new book and I wanted to share the news with you.
From the first page ("When I first met you, you lived in Russia, a country far across the ocean. Now, you live here, close to my heart.") to the last ("You will always be Russia's child. But now, you are also mine."), the book expresses love for the child, appreciates the child's heritage, and celebrates the joy a child brings to a family through adoption.
Kudos to the author and the illustrator for this wonderful new book! I highly recommend this book!

We are adoptive parents of 2 boys from Russia. This book brought tears to my eyes, I had trouble reading it to my sons the first time. The first time my husband read it, he welled up with tears as well. It is not a exact story for all adoptions, but is written with such heartfelt words. I think it is a must have for an adoptive parent of a Russian child.

This really is a beautiful book - both in terms of text & pictures. The story is told from a mother to her daughter, so it is girl-specific -- but still, it's great to have a story specific to Russian adoption. The biggest part where the girlishness comes into play is when it refers to pink ballet slippers. But you could always just say "slippers" instead if you want the "You" to really be your own child & he is a boy. ;) The book begins...

"When I met you, you lived in Russia, a country far across the ocean.
Now, you live here, close to my heart.

When you met me, you lived with a gruppa of sixteen other children.
Now, you live in a house, with me and Daddy and Fizz the dog."

My only issue with the book comes at the end & this is just personal preference. The text reads:

"When you met me, your Russian mother had already said good-bye.
Now, I am your mother, and I will say hello to you every day of your life."

At least at this point (at my son's young age), I would prefer not to use the term "Russian mother" & to talk about her saying good-bye. (We just say her first name instead.) I bought the book anyway, deciding to come up with my own words for that page. The following page then says:

"You will always be Russia's child.
But now, you are also mine."

I am choosing to change this wording for our use too. I would rather that it said, "a child of Russia"... so that it sounds less posessive of him -- instead emphasizing that he does belong to us. This is all personal preference, of course. :)

I love this book. The drawings are beautiful, and the story is heart-warming. It is helping explain adoption to my three-year-old Russian daughter while we wait to bring her baby brother home from Russia.