Recommended Reading

Featured Book

Two Hearts: An Adoptees Journey Through Grief to Gratitude Linda Hoye Linda Hoye was in her early twenties when she found herself parentless for the second time. Adopted at five months of age, her heritage, medical history, and access to information about who she was or where she came from was sealed. It was as if she had never existed before being adopted. This is the story of a woman's journey through unfathomable grief; of what it takes to go into the abyss of deep-seated wounding, to feel the pain, and to come out the other side, whole, healed, and thankful.

Please peruse our recommended reading list. Many of these books can be found in libraries nationwide. To purchase these titles, the following specialized sources are recommended:

Amazon.com: A portion of books purchased through Amazon will benefit the AAC.

Just click on one of our links below.

Tapestry Books: A mail order/online bookstore specializing in adoption titles.

While the AAC believes that all the books listed below will be helpful to individuals seeking to learn more about the adoption experience, the views and opinions expressed in the books are those of the authors alone. 

Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted  
Robert Anderson
 

       Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: 
       Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond
       Julie Bailey and Lynn Giddens
     
 

Lethal Secrets: The Psychology of
Donor Insemination – Problems and Solutions 
Annette Baran, Reuben Pannor and Arthur D. Sorosky
 
 

  
Not Your Normal Family:
A Single Asperger Womans 
Adoption of Two Down's Boys
 Fiona Barrington

 
   

Confessions of a Lost Mother 
Elisa M. Barton


 

Late Discoveries: An Adoptee's Quest for Truth
Susan Bennett

 

Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self 
 David M.Brodzinsky, Marshall D. Schlechter, Robin Marantz Henig.

 




Swimming Up the Sun: A Memoir of Adoption 
Nicole J. Burton

  

 

Adoption Politics: Bastard Nation and Ballot Initiative 58 
  E. Wayne Carp
 

Growing Up Is Hard to Do When They Won't Tell You Who You Are
Joann Chace 
 



Birth Fathers and Their Adoption Experience
Gary Clapton
 

 
    Jessica Lost: A Story of Birth, Adoption &
    The Meaning of Motherhood
    Bunny Crumpacker

 
  Adopting After Infertility: Messages from Practice,
  Research and Personal Experience 
  Marilyn Crawshaw & Rachel Balen

 
Fifty Years in 13 Days a Mother/Daughter Reuinon
Katie DeCosse & Jackie Maher

My Brave Little Man
Terry Allen Degner

  Adopted Reality: A Memoir
  Laura Dennis

 
Finding a Forever Family: A News Anchor's Notebook
on Domestic Adoption Within the Foster Care System
Christine Devine

The Language of Flowers: A Novel
Vanessa Diffenbaugh
 

 
 

Outer Search/Inner Journey: An Orphan and Adoptee's Quest
 Peter F. Dodds.


 

A Love Child's Journey
CKay Duncan


 
 

Making Room in Our Hearts:
Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption 
Micky Duxbury



 
 
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew
 Sherrie Eldridge
 

 

Following the Tambourine Man: A Birthmother's Memoir
Janet Mason Ellerby
 

 
Intimate Reading: The Contemporary Women's Memoir
 Janet Mason Ellerby

 The Search: A Memoir of an Adopted Woman
 Titia Ellis

 





The Sighing of Rose-Breasted Cockatoos: The Search for the Sunlit Clearing
Robert Ensign
 

Any Skeletons in the Closet?
Ann E Fedeli

 
 
The Girls Who Went Away 
 Ann Fessler

    
     Blind In One Eye: A Story About Seeing the Possibilities
     David R. Ford
   

 

 May the Circle Be Unbroken:
An Intimate Journey into the Heart of Adoption
 Lynn C. Franklin
  

    Somebody's Child: Stories About Adoption
     Bruce Gillespie and Lynne Van Luven

  
 
    Blending In: Crisscrossing the Lines
    of Race, Religion, Family, and Adoption
    Barbara Ann Gowan

 
 

 
 
Adoption Constellatiion
 Michael Grand

Not Remembered Never Forgotten
Robert Hafetz

 

Without A Map: A Memoir
Meridith Hall

An Unlit Path
Deborah L. Hannah

Mother Country: A Memoir
Jeremy Harding

Good Girls Don't
Patty Hawn
 

Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA  
Richard Hill






The Mistress's Daughter
A. M. Homes

In A Country Of Mothers 
A. M. Homes

 

Finding Me In a Paper Bag:
Searching For Both Sides Now 
 Sally Howard.

 

  
  Two Hearts: An Adoptee's Journey Through Grief
   to Gratitude
   Linda Hoye

 

Healing the Hole in A Heart:
One Birthmother's Journey into the Adoption Triangle

 Nancy Mac Isaac

 

 

Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib
Jaiya John

  
 
  Perspectives on a Grafted Tree:
 Thoughts for Those Touched
  Patricia Irwin Johnston


 

Birthmothers: Women Who Have Relinquished Babies for Adoption Tell Their Stories
Merry Bloch Jones
 

 

He Waited for Me
 Patricia Kamradt

   

 

Adoption: Uncharted Waters 
 David Kirschner, Ph.D.

     The English American
     Alison Larkin

     Listen to Me: Writing Life Into Meaning
     Lynn Lauber

     Found: A Memoir
     Jennifer Lauck

     Blackbird: A Childhood Lost and Found
     Jennifer Lauck

    Still Waters
     Jennifer Lauck

    Show Me the Way
     Jennifer Lauck

    Once They Hear My Name: Korean Adoptees and 
    Their Journeys Toward Identity
     Ellen Lee


 

     Lost and Found: The Adoption Expeience
     Betty Jean Lifton

     Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness
     Betty Jean Lifton
 

 Nothing Good Ever Happens to Me: An Adoption Love Story
Caroline Lindsay

Empty Arms: A Novel
 Erika Liodice






Mom -- Is that you?
Cynthia MacGregor 





Out of the Shadows: Stories of Adoption & Reunion
Linda Back MacKay

Single Mothers By Choice
Jane Mattes 

                            
                      

Becoming Patrick
Patrick McMahon                         

 

  Looking for Lost Bird: A Jewish Woman Discovers Her Navajo Roots
Yvette Melanson

 Raising Adopted Children, Revised Edition: Practical Reassuring
Advice for Every Adoptive Parent
 Lois Ruskai Melina
 

 The Open Adoption Expeience - A Complete Guide for Adoptive and
Birth Families
 Lois Ruskai Melina
 

 The Mysteries of Eva Miller Revealed
 Eva Miller

 

Waiting to Forget: A Motherhood Lost and Found
 Margaret Moorman

To Prison With Love
Sandy Musser

Reading Adoption: Family and Difference in Fiction and Drama
 Marianne Novy

The Family of Adoption: Completely Revised and Updated
Joyce Maguire Pavao




 

A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, A Mysterious Past
and How He Found a Place Called Home
Steve J Pemberton

Adoption Nation (Revised and Updated
 Adam Pertman
 

In Her Mother's Shoes
Felicity Price

The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who
 Corrupted Adoption
 Brbara Bisantz Raymond
 

The Stork Market: America's Multi-Billion Dollar
Unregulated Adoption Industry
Mirah Riben
 

Adoption Encounter: Hurt, Transition, Healing
Mary J Rillera

Adoption Reunion: Ecstasy or Agony?
 Evelyn Burns Robinson

Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief
Evelyn Burns Robinson

Adoption and Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Reunion
Evelyn Burns Robinson

Adopton Separation: Then and Now
Evelyn Burns Robinson

Touched By Adoption
Nancy A. Robinson

Saying Goodbye to a Baby: Birthparents Guide to Loss
and Grief in Adoption
 Patricia Roles

Second-Chance Mother
Denise Roessle


 

Adoption Wisdom: A Guide to the Issues and Feelings in Adoption
Marlou Russell

The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption,
 and the Children of War in Vietnam
 Dana Sachs

Hunting Shadows
Dan Sandifer

Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited
Elyse Schein
 

Searching for a Past: The Adopted Adult's Unique Process
of Finding Identity
 Jane Norris Schooler

Journey's After Adoption, Understanding Lifelong Issues
 Jane Norris Schooler
 

Coming Together: An Adoptee's Story
Martha Shideler

Finding Fernanda: Two Mothers, One Child, and a
Cross-Border Search for Truth
Erin Siegal

 

Dear Birthmother
 Kathleen Silber






Adopting America: Childhood, Kinship, and National Identity in Literature
Carol Singley
 

The Adoption Mystique: Hard Hitting Expose of the Powerful Social Stigma
That Permeates Child Adoption in the United States
 Jana Wolf Small

Adoption Healing...a Path to Recovery
Joe Soll

Adoption Healing...A Path to Recovery for Mothers Who
Lost Children to Adoption
 Joe Soll

Wake Up Little Suzie: Single Pregnancy and Race
Before Roe v Wade
 Rickie Solinger





Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption,
Abortion, and Welfare in the United States
Rickie Solinger

 

Adoption Triangle
 Arthur D Sorosky

The Same Smile:  The Triumph of a Mother's Love
 After Losing Two Daughters
 Susan Mello Sousa
 

The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father
Who Does Not Fall
 Margot Starbuck

 Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees,
Birthparents and Adoptive Parents
Jean A. S. Strauss

Beneath a Tall Tree
 Jean A. S. Strauss

Even Tough Girls Wear Tutus: Inside the World of a Woman
Born in Prison
Deborah Jiang Stein

 

  

 Hide and Seek
  Janet Stuessi

Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption
 Jane Jeong Trenka

 

The Adoption Reunion Handbook
Elizabeth Trindler

  The Primal Wound
  Nancy Verrier

 
   Lost and Found: A Memoir for Mothers
    Kate St. Vincent Vogl

  Giving Away Simone
  Jan L. Waldron

A Legitimate Life: A Forbidden Journey
of Self-Discovery
Melinda A. Warshaw

 

   Scattered Siblings: An Adoptee's Search for His
   Biological Roots
   Lawrence A Weeks





360 Square: A Memoir of Adoption and Identity
Carol Welsh





 

Between Light and Shadow: A Guatemalan Girls
Journey Through Adoption
Jacob Wheeler

  Why be Happy when you could be Normal?
  Jeannette Winterson

  Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother
  Jana Wolff