Book review: E is for Ethiopia

E is for Ethiopia is a great book. Using the alphabet as organization for an overview of interesting facts about Ethiopia the books it combines explanations and fabulous photographs of Ethiopia to share some of the wonder of the country with it's reader. I love this book because it is not a text book and is very interesting to my boys . They can see the culture of their birth in beautiful photos and words which helps them to connect to it. I also like that it is written by Ethiopians. They have the passion to pass along and I feel they do this well with this simple yet beautiful kids book.
Check it out on Amazon.

Book Review: Yafi's Family

Yafi's Family is a great book. These are the things I love about this book:
1. the child is a boy
2. he is adopted as an older child
3. he is orphaned by death
4. he is Ethiopian
5. his parents retained his birth name
6. He has siblings in his adoptive home

I like these things because my boys can relate to each of these things very very well. It is a story about another boy, yet a story about themselves as well. The story is unique in that there are very few books about Ethiopian adoption, few books about older child adoption and even fewer about children who were orphaned by death rather than relinquished or abandoned. I would highly recommend this book for your home library. I think we will read this one over and over. As a note, I would suggest talking about feelings after you read this book and giving lots of affirmation. It triggered some sad feelings of loss the first time we read it for one of my sons. He likes this book, because it helps him feel like he is not alone in his loss. That is valuable.