December 30, 2010
Red in the Flower Bed
by Kelly
"Red in the Flower Bed" by Andrea Nepa is a touching and beautifully crafted children's book on the topic of interracial adoption.The story follows a little seed from the beginning of it's journey of uncertainty to the end where it becomes a flower with positive nurturing and care. The seed is an analogy for the child who is to be adopted and gives a gentle explanation for the adoptive child who may wonder why.
The illustrations are very simple yet emotive. The book would suit not only an interracially adoptive family but any adoptive family.
I am a great supporter of adoption and I lament the fact that the adoption process is made so difficult and sometimes inaccessible for so many. The author is an adoptive parent herself which is quite obvious as this is a book written from the heart.
You can learn more about Andrea Nepa or purchase her book here.
This month I’ve been asked by 
I am really sorry to Andrea and Tribute books for being late on this book review posting. I guess the holiday season has just gotten the better of me this week. I thank Tribute books for the opportunity to have reviewed this cute rhyming book with the theme of interracial adoption. The pictures are bright and cheery. It is a short quick sing song book with a very wonderful message. This is a charming message using the poppy seed as the illustration throughout the book. Nepa's book will help a child better understand what adoption truly means.
A beautifully told, rhyming story of interracial adoption awaits you in 
I selected this book to review for personal reasons; I, too, was adopted! Although our family was not interracial, I think the word adoption stirs up feelings of exclusion and rejection by many. To me, the word means “SPECIAL”. I remember asking my mother (the woman that raised me-she EARNED the honored title of Mother) WHEN she told me I was adopted; she said, “When I rocked you as an infant.” I asked her if she thought my natural mother ever thought about me; she said, “OF COURSE, especially on your birthday.” I also remember asking her if she HATED my natural mother, like I did; she said, “Oh no, I am truly grateful and thankful for your mother. She loved you so much, knowing she couldn’t provide for you, gave you away so someone else could; someone like me and your daddy!” For some reason, that made sense to me. I adored my mother and had an enormous amount of respect for her; so if that’s what she thought, I would think that too! Forever!
, by Andrea Nepa, a little poppy seed cannot flourish where she is born because the soil is dry, so the mother flower makes the decision to let the wind carry the seed away to a land where she’ll be able to grow better. The little seed heads west until she lands in a lovely garden of flowers, where she is welcomed warmly by the other flowers, even though she soon begins to grow into a flower that the others don’t recognize. But the red poppy rejoices because she has found a family, and all the flowers make a beautiful and harmonious rainbow of colors!
by Andrea Nepa is a children's picture book about interracial adoption. Truly, though, it is a simple beautiful book about not belonging, being different, and finding a place to fit in which could be used in many different situations. It tells of a poppy seed carried by the wind. The seed finds itself in a distant flower bed, filled with roses, marigolds, and violets. The poppy flower grows in the fertile soil and helps complete the perfect rainbow of color. The poppy is exactly where it belongs. 
Red In The Flower Bed
Red In The Flower Bed is a beautifully written and illustrated story about the power of international adoption.
This is a lovely story for children depicting interracial adoption through the use of metaphor and creative illustrations. Ms. Nepa has done an outstanding job of bringing the message of adoption, interracial or otherwise to the eyes of the children. Besides making them aware that such a thing exists, she also with her unique storytelling ability has explained and reassured those living in that situation along with those that live and play with them. 
Adoption is an issue that is very close to my heart, so when Tribute books offered me the chance to be a part of the blog tour for Red in the Flower Bed I was very excited. This is my first review of a children’s book, but I don’t think it will be my last! 
We're blessed with two biological children but I always think if at some point in our lives whether we can adopt. If we were not able to have children of our own there would be no doubt that I would adopt although I know from friends adoption is a long, expensive and draining drawn out process but definitely with wonderful experience and outcome after all said and done.
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