The Mulberry Bird: An Adoption Story
Kindergarten-Grade 4-Relinquishment is the hardest part of adoption to talk about and is often glossed over in children's books. Brodzinsky has chosen to tell the story using birds to represent the people involved. A young mother bird feeds and protects her baby, noticing that other mothers have mates to help them. Her baby's father has flown away. Then a storm breaks her nest, and the baby falls to the ground. She goes to the wise owl for help, and he says the only way to solve her problem is to find a family to love and care for her child. She refuses at first, but then relents, and the owl carries the baby to the chosen shorebird couple. The young mother sees that her child is safe and loved, and sadly flies away forever. The baby hears from its adoptive parents the story of its first mother's love and care. This revision of the 1986 story is longer, newly illustrated in watercolors, and reflects changes in adoption practice. Language has been made more inclusive: the baby's need for "a mother and father" becomes its need for "a family." More of the youngster's feelings are included: anger and confusion as well as happiness and sadness. A caveat: a paragraph on the verso of the title page warns that the story is a fantasy and "... is not intended to represent the lives of real birds in any consistent way." Less realistic, more fanciful illustrations would have conveyed this message more noticeably. Still, the book is sure to prompt discussion.Nancy Schimmel, formerly of San Mateo County Library, CACopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.