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Make a Difference with Books

Book Recommendations/Reviews from our Editor

Books can be a wonderfully effective tool for those advocating for change. Encouraging others to read is a great way to finally bury adoption's secretive, shame-filled past and move on to a better future.

If you are interested in helping a particular book get the attention it deserves and, most importantly, continuing to educate ourselves, our friends, our relatives and the people around us about the realities of adoption, here are some suggestions:

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• Buy the book. If you own one, get another one or two or more for the people you love or who needs educating. If the local bookstore doesn't have it in stock, order it and then raise hell to let the owner/manager know he/she is missing something important that people care about. They don't have a clue how many of us care about adoption; let's show them.
  
  
• Ask your local library or libraries to order it. Adoption's not a secret anymore, and books about it should be readily available. In fact, ask the librarian to display it so that it isn't read only by people seeking it out, but also by all the folks who would learn from it.
  
  
• Reviews/Reviewers. If you know anyone in the media, strongly suggest to them that they do a story about the book, review the book and use the author as a resource for other adoption-related stories. Adoption is still so hush-hush that most journalists don't think to write about it except when there's a horror story. If you enjoy writing reviews, write one yourself for online booksellers, your own Web page, your local newspaper.
  
  
• If you are an educator or know one, recommend the use of adoption books as texts. Many books are extraordinarily suited to this purpose and could be appropriate used in conjunction with an array of subjects: history, sociology, social work, law, medicine, modern culture, childhood education, or any course that involves the study of family or children. (I understand some college professors already are doing this, and it's also appropriate for high school classes.) The world isn't populated solely by biologically-formed families, and our schools ought to be including adoption in their curricula to reflect reality.
  
  
• Talk to others about the book. Encourage others with whom you are connected on the Web and in daily life to help make a difference.