Take a look at our new NJ ARCH Library Books!  

 

To order a book, click on the title or call the NJARCH Warm Line at 877.4.ARCHNJ or 877.427.2465

 
 

B-Mother by Maureen O'Brian

From Publishers Weekly
: Among the recent spate of adoption memoirs, the voices of birth mothers have been woefully underrepresented. O'Brien covers the territory in her debut novel spanning nearly 20 years, beginning in 1980—less than a decade after the legalization of abortion and the advent of open adoptions. Hillary Birdsong, 16, has felt adrift since the death of her idealized older brother in a fraternity hazing ritual four years earlier. Emotionally neglected by her perpetually grieving mother, Hillary clings to glamorous party boy Miles, becoming pregnant during a summer fling when he vacations in her small Maine resort town. Unsupported by Miles and her parents, Hillary waits out her late pregnancy in a Catholic girls' home. Her son, Tom, is adopted, and Hillary spends the next 18 years putting her life back together while anticipating annual letters from Tom's adoptive mother and awaiting the day when she can legally interact with her son. Beyond some florid description and artificial dialogue, O'Brien's narrative does convey the long healing process after giving up a child for adoption. But the novel's long time span seems vague and undeveloped, making readers feel as if they, like Hillary, are just biding time until the mother and son's eventual reunion. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 




 

The Baby Thief by Barbara Bisantz Raymond


From Publishers Weekly:
An episode in American adoption history little remembered by the public at large, the crimes of nationally-lauded Memphis orphanage director Georgia Tann are skillfully and passionately recounted by freelance writer Raymond, herself an adoptive mom. The portrait of Tann that emerges is a domineering, indefatigable figure with an insane commitment to ends-justify-the-means logic, who oversaw three decades of baby-stealing, baby-selling and unprecedented neglect. Meanwhile, she did more to popularize, commercialize and influence adoption in America than anyone before her. Tann operated carte blanche under corrupt Mayor Edward Hull Crump from the 1920s to the '50s, employing a nefarious network of judges, attorneys, social workers and politicos, whom she sometimes bribed with "free" babies; her clients included the rich, the famous and the entirely unfit (who more than occasionally returned their disappointing children for a refund). "Spotters" located babies and young children ripe for abduction-from women too uneducated or exhausted to fight back-and Tann made standard practice of altering birth certificates and secreting away adoption records to attract buyers and cover her tracks-self-serving moves that have become standard practice in modern adoption. A riveting array of interviews with Tann's former charges reveals adults still struggling with their adoption ordeal, childhood memories stacked with sexual abuse, torture and confusion. Raymond's dogged investigation makes a strong case for "ridding adoptions of lies and secrets," warning that "until we do, Tann and her imitators will continue to corrupt adoption." A rigorous, fascinating, page-turning tale, this important book is not for the timorous.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 


 

China Ghosts by Jeff Gammage


From Publishers Weekly
: As more Americans adopt Chinese children, the bookshelves fill with firsthand accounts of their experiences. Perhaps because many adoptions are preceded by infertility issues, most of these memoirs are written by women. So this, a father's account of going to China with his wife to adopt their first and second daughters, is particularly useful. Gammage, a staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, had been happily married without children for many years, although he knew his wife really wanted children. By the time they discovered they couldn't have biological children, the best option was adopting from China. While there were tensions over their first daughter's medical problems (an infected scalp injury), both adoptions went reasonably smoothly. Back home, Gammage wrestled with his mixed feelings about the birth parents and his burden of good fortune, that guilty knowledge that his own happiness came from someone else's misfortune. Realizing that his own relationship to China was being shaped by the process of raising two Chinese girls, he ends this upbeat memoir by wondering about the impact of this new wave of immigrants on the future of Sino-American relations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 


 

Mommies, Daddies, Donors, Surrogates by Diane Ehrensaft


From Publishers Weekly
: With the spread of nontraditional families and the rise of infertility, "assisted conception" (donor insemination, egg donation, surrogate mothering or any combination of the above) is a big new fact of life. After two decades of counseling "biosocial" families, Ehrensaft, a clinical and developmental psychologist (Parenting Together; Spoiling Childhood), wrote this honest, down-to-earth manual to help parents work through the problems. Just because people are brave enough to create nontraditional families doesn't mean they've anticipated the difficult questions those arrangements raise. Do shared genes give the biological parent more rights than the "social" parent? Is it wrong to have fantasies about sperm donors? How do you decide how much to involve the "birth other" in the "family matrix"? At what age do you tell your child his or her birth story? What do you tell them? Ehrensaft groups the issues thematically with plenty of firsthand anecdotes. An experienced therapist, she acknowledges up front many things we do that we shouldn't: social moms feeling jealous of surrogates, parents hiding the truth from their children, etc. She understands—and then nudges parents in a better direction. This is a terrifically useful book for nontraditional families and everyone (teachers, ministers, therapists) who works with them.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 


 

Making Rom in Our Hearts by Micky Duxbury


From Adam Pertman, Executive Director Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute:

Every once in a while, a book comes along that can make an honest difference in the understanding of an important subject -- and, therefore, in people's lives. I'm delighted to say that `Making Room in Our Hearts' is one of those books. It takes on open adoption, which remains too poorly understood despite its growing prevalence, and explains it in the best possible way: through the stories of those who live it. The result is simultaneously touching and enlightening; it's a wonderful combination that I hope and believe will make an honest difference in the continued evolution of adoption from the stigmatized, secretive process that it used to be into one that is honest, healthy and better serves all of its participants, especially the children.
 


 

Kids Need to Be Safe by Julie Nelson


From School Library Journal

Pres-Grade 1–Meant to reassure children in foster care, this accumulation of short, declarative sentences stresses the importance of being safe. The illustrations show a multiethnic cast of kids and adults, some in positive situations and others in more stressful settings. The first half of the book discusses, in the briefest possible terms, why kids end up in foster care, and the second half talks about foster parents and other adults in supporting roles. There is virtually no transition from one thought to the next, giving a random feel to the text. With only 10 spreads, the extreme brevity alone imposes some limits. Still, the information presented seems arbitrary, at best. One entire spread is devoted to the statement, Usually moms and dads take good care of kids and keep kids safe. If the audience for the book is truly the one stated in the subtitle, why emphasize what these children's parents have failed to do? The rather ordinary paintings are weakest at reflecting facial expressions. A brief but helpful informational message for adults is appended, giving tips on helping foster children work through their difficult emotions, and a list of adult resources is also included. The book does offer validation of a living situation that affects thousands of children in the U.S. each year and explains it in a straightforward style, albeit with mediocre results.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 


 

Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide by Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P.

From the Publisher

Adoption: Your Step-by-Step Guide is packed with information on adoption you won't find anywhere else. Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P has done an outstanding job of sharing her 17 years of adoption experience with the public. If you want to find the child of your dreams, this is the book to buy today!

About the Author
Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P. and author of AdoptingOnline.com, is a nationally recognized authority on open adoption and an expert on Internet adoption resources. A Certified Open Adoption Practitioner, Caldwell is founder of the nationwide adoption organization, Lifetime Adoption Center, LLC, established in 1986, is the founder of A Lifetime Foundation and is the host of the popular Internet talk radio show, Let’s Talk Adoption…with Mardie Caldwell.

As an adoptive parent who has experienced many of the challenges prospective adoptive parents face, Caldwell knows the sorrow of infertility and the joys of parenthood through adoption. She also understands and wants to communicate to all, the important steps that must be taken to complete a safe and secure adoption. Caldwell’s life work has been dedicated to educating and helping adoptive parents and birth parents find each other.

Caldwell has been the guest on numerous television and radio talk shows and is regularly interviewed by family and parenting magazines. She frequently contributes articles to magazines and websites about the challenges and joys of adoption. She and her husband Greg reside with their four children in Nevada City, California.
 




To see our older New Books please got to our archive page.

 

Have you borrowed a book you really like?  Perhaps you want a copy for your own library.  If so, please use our link to Tapestry Books.
For every order linked from the NJ ARCH website, NJ ARCH will receive a percentage from the sale. This arrangement will assist our organization to offer the best service to our customers.