Waiting for May

Review by Sherry North, Author, Because You Are My Baby Waiting for May is an extremely well written look at the process of international adoption, from the point of view of a young boy who is getting a baby sister from China. I bought the book for my 4-year-old son, because we're in the process of adopting a child from Kazakhstan. Despite the difference in countries, so much of the process is the same. The book discusses the social worker who comes for a home visit when the parents first apply to adopt, the mountains of paperwork, and the long wait to be matched with a child. It shows how the photo of the baby sister arrives on the computer, and just like my son, the main character gets shots for traveling to another country. Finally, the family travels to meet the little girl. The book doesn't shy away from the fact that she cries and cries before warming up to her new brother. What I like best about the book is the brother's positive attitude. He is not fretting but instead is focused on how great it will be to have a sister. The illustration of the two hugging on the final page is just lovely.

This book is wonderful at explaining the adoption process from a small child's perspective. My two boys smiled the whole way through it! Even though we are adopting a little girl from Russia and the book is about China, they could still relate to it. I think it helps them realize what we are doing, and what we are feeling, is normal and happens to other people too. It explains the process very well, in language they could understand. It also touches very sensitively the possible reasons why the little girl was an orphan. Overall, I found it very realistic and informative, with a touch of humor.

We read every adoption story we can get our hands on. This is a neat one. Our adopted chinese daughter enjoyed it.

This book is just wonderful. It is a great preparation for any child who is waiting for a sibling to be adopted. It is a heart-warming story that talks about the adoption process, the waiting, and the emotions that go along with it, from a child's perspective. I love that the little boy can't wait to go to China and get his sister- many other books I have found on this topic show the waiting sibling with a jealous attitude towards the adoption. Jealousy is an important emotion to address, but many kids ARE very excited about adopting a sibling. This book is uplifting, sweet, and really gives a waiting sibling an idea of what to expect throughout the process of adoption. I highly recommend it!

My husband and I are in the process of completing paper work to get on a list to adopt a child from China. I happened upon this book at a bookstore and loved it immediately. We have already read it to our almost-3-year-old biological child to help explain the process of filling out paperwork and then waiting to hear about our new child. It has been a good way to introduce the topic of adoption. Our daughter asks for it often and has requested that we name our new child "May." :-) The pictures and story are simple enough to interest a very young child but have enough depth to interest a child in the early elementary grades (or even older). I highly recommend this book to anyone waiting to adopt a child internationally (especially from China).