The White Swan Express: A Story about Adoption

My husband purchased this book for our family a few months prior to our returning to China to adopt our second daughter. We found it very helpful in explaining to our older daughter what was happening and what might be expected. The water color drawings are beautiful and the story is charming. Yes, there is a lesbian couple but it's really so not in your face. Those who complain about this book somehow putting adoptions in jeopardy would do well to educate themselves on the facts. China was not always closed to gay couples and it has only been in the last (approximately) four years that singles have been asked to sign the heterosexual statement. The author adopted her daughter before this process was in place, so it might behoove reviewers to actually do some research before throwing our allegations. And, since it is a work of fiction, the author did exercise artistic license in simplifying some of the explanations. I would hope that people who are looking for an adoption guide would actually be buying a non-fiction book rather than looking to a children's book, but obviously some of the other reviewers would disagree. I highly recomend this book to any open minded parent that was looking for help in telling their son/daughter their story.

I just ordered this book after having looked at it elsewhere. It's going to answer a lot of questions my daughter has about the specifics of my going to China to get her, our travel group that we remain close to, etc. And I'm so happy it portrays diverse families - I am a single parent and we are acquainted with many diverse families in our local adoption group, and this will help 'normalize' that for our children. Is the (gentle and understated) portrayal of a lesbian couple disrespectful to the Chinese government officials? Perhaps a more important question is whether or not this same government's child limitation policies are respectful of these children and their families? They are unfortunately given little choice but to sacrifice some of their children to an unknown fate that they can only hope will someday provide their children with the love and fulfillment that an adoptive family - single-parent, married couple, or homosexual couple - will provide.

This book tells the story of four North American couples/singles travelling to China to adopt four Chinese girls. This is a great way to explain to kids the process of adoption. It also captures the group experience that happens when adopting parents travel to another country, meet, and share the experience, often making friends. The four adopting parent-groups include a single mom, a married couple that look of Asian descent and another married couple that look plus-size, and two women, one of whom appears African-American. The two women could be gay or best friends--it is not made clear and is subtle enough to go right over the head of any child. The book does not address China's adoption policies, nor does it make any judgements about Chinese culture, or why so many girls are available for adoption. I think it's better to be inclusive and not touch on international adoption politics. Personally I know more than one child with two mommies and in this modern day and age I see no problem with the book being inclusive. One of the couples is also Jewish. The watercolors are absolutely beautiful, and paint China in colorful and rich detail. In a particularly nice touch one of the moms-to-be practices some Chinese phrases on the airplane on the way to China: "Wo shi ni de mama" which means "I am Mommy", and "Wo ai ni" which means "I love you." You get to learn more phrases when they are in China. Later on, when the parents send each other holiday cards, you get to see pictures of the adopted girls as bigger children, which is lovely, and you can see on the cards that their names are a given Western name followed by their born Chinese name as a middle name, which is a very common practice and is nice to see. Overall an informative, gentle, and touching book. I recommend this highly to anyone adopting from China.

My 6-year-old from China LOVES this book and has asked to have it read to her at least 20 times since it arrived last week. It is very close to her own adoption story - she is from Guangdong Province, and we of course stayed at the White Swan Hotel. I love the diversity of families shown - it's a good representation of what my kids see in our own community of families with kids from China. The beginning of the story is wonderful, with the parents each waking up on their travel day as the babies are going to bed on the other side of the world. Both my 6- and 4-year-old giggle in delight at the descriptions and illustrations of the babies. My only complaint is that the ending is a little abrupt. The first time I read it, I thought I'd skipped a page at the end - I was expecting something about leaving China or the trip home. I also noticed one typo - Charlotte Appleford is Carrie Appleford on one page. But otherwise a wonderful, wonderful book!