Roorda interviews Black Americans across generations—including those who lived through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era. A major theme of this book isn't just about the person who gives birth; it’s about the "other-mothers" in the Black community who feel a collective responsibility to help transracial adoptees navigate a racialized world.
Where to buy: World of Books
For All Things a Season is a fundamental shift away from traditional "consequences-based" discipline. Bryan Post argues that most behavioral issues in children—especially those with a history of trauma or adoption—are actually stress responses masquerading as defiance.
Where to buy: https://www.thriftbooks.com
Adopting Privilege: A Memoir of Reinventing My Adoptee Narrative by Dr. Abigail Hasberry is a memoir exploring transracial adoption from the perspective of a Black adoptee raised in a white family, who is also a birth mother and therapist. The book delves into themes of race, identity, and the complexities of adoption, offering guidance for adoptees and the broader adoption community by sharing Hasberry's personal experiences with the adoption industry, birth family search, and the concept of "adopting privilege". It aims to provide a voice for the adoptee experience, which is often marginalized in adoption narratives.
Published on December 22, 1999, bell hooks’ All About Love: New Visions was not just a book; it was the first book in an intervention trilogy. She shares her own heartbreaks, her struggles to find "true love," and her journey toward self-recovery.
hooks challenges us to move past the "disappearing act" often required in relationships. She insists that for love to exist, we must be allowed to exist as our whole, truthful selves. It is a call to move from transactional love (what can you do for me?) to transformational love (how can we grow together?).
Through thirteen rigorous chapters, hooks demonstrates that the "heart of connection" requires us to show up as our full selves—histories, wounds, and all. https://shop.gathergoodsco.com/products/all-about-love-new-visions-bell-hooks
Tyler Gordon
Preschool-Grade 3
Tyler Gordon is just 15 years old, but his distinctive portraits have been displayed in art galleries, on The Today Show, and on the cover of TIME Magazine. We Can: Portraits of Power introduces readers to 34 people who have inspired Tyler. There are athletes, entertainers, artists, writers, and political figures, including John Lewis, Maya Angelou, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Colin Kaepernick, Stacey Abrams, Serena Williams, Bob Marley, Lady Gaga, and many more. As Tyler says, “The people in this book are icons who have changed the world in their own groundbreaking ways. When I reflect on where I want to be in the future, I think about the accomplishments of these strong, brave people, and it gives me inspiration to put my all into everything I do.”
https://www.powells.com/book/we-can-portraits-of-power-9780374389666
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April shares her very personal experience as a transracially adopted person as she opens up a conversation about the beauty and complexity of adoption through interviews and reflections. Each episode is anchored in the months of the year, connecting poignant holidays, rituals, rites of passage, and celebrations to adoption, identity and family.
