Marvelous Mom Reviews - "Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Book about Interracial Adoption"

Marvelous Mom Reviews,
March 22, 2010

Review - Red in the Flower Bed
by Mimi B.

To be honest, I don't believe I've ever read a book on adoption. We don't know anyone with adopted kids and I guess it's never crossed my mind to read this type of book. Now, on the other hand, I know there are so many families out there looking for great books to share about adoption with their child or a family they know.

I'd love to share with you a book that pertains to this very idea. Red in the Flower Bed by Andrea Nepa is a great way to demonstrate how adoption occurs. A baby (or a seed) is born from one mommy and is blessed by living with a new mommy and daddy as well as other family members.

The reader follows a seed as it journeys from it's mommy, who is a Poppy, to a new garden full of other flowers. The little seed doesn't just appear in the new garden, it takes time and this colorful and joyful travels of this sweet seed is inspiring!

When the little seed makes it to the garden where she will grow, she is fully welcomed by all the different flowers surrounding it. The poppy seed blooms into a beautiful poppy in a garden filled with sweet peas, snapdragons and other flowers.

If you know someone who has adopted or is adopting, Red in the Flower Bed would be a wonderful book to have as they share the story of where their precious child came from!

The Practical Mom Guide's review

The Practical Mom Guide,
March 23, 2010

Review - Red in the Flower Bed
by Joy Warfsman

Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Story About Interracial Adoption was written by Andrea Nepa who is herself an adoptive parent. It tells the story of a poppy seed that is carried by the wind to its new home amid a garden of flowers. The story tells how the poppy seed grows roots and blooms. Nepa has not discounted the emotional element to this analogy about adoption. I like that she mentions how the poppy shed tears when the seed went away and how happy the garden flowers were at the new arrival and how excited they were to see who the little seed would become. The little poppy seed ended up exactly where she was supposed to be.

This book is listed for children ages 9-12 but I can see it being read to younger children. It is a beautiful story book and a good way to introduce the concept of adoption to younger children. The illustrations with the various patterns are well crafted and reminiscent of scenes from a scrapbook.