Mommy PR reviews "Red in the Flower Bed"

Mommy PR,
November 29, 2009

Red in the Flower Bed: Children's Book Review
by Dawn Speese

Taking on a subject that is near and dear to my heart Red in the Flower Bed, by Andrea Nepa is an adorable children’s book about interracial adoption.

The story follows a seed’s journey from her original home to her final destination with her new garden family where, although different, she is a perfect fit. The book is beautifully written in a simple and touching way.

I read the story to my 6 year old daughter who has been home with us for two years and she also loved it. I was not sure how she would react since she always gets emotional if she feels like someone is losing something or being left out. She did not relate the book to herself, but was very happy for the flower seed who safely settled into her new home, and since she loves flowers she enjoyed the illustrations as well. When we finished the story I was able to use it to open discussion with my daughter about how even though the seed did not start out with this flower family, she was very well loved and completed the family just like she herself completes our family.

About the author: Andrea Nepa is the author of Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children’s Story about Interracial Adoption. She is the mother of an daughter adopted from Vietnam in 2001. In 2008 Andera wrote and dedicated this book to her daughter Leah.

My thoughts: This is a fantastic book to add to your child’s book collection and a wonderful gift for any family that has been touched by adoption. I am always on the lookout for ways to encourage open discussions with my daughter and this book is a perfect tool for helping with that!

Money Saving Moms Club names "Red in the Flower Bed" to 2009 Holiday Gift Guide

Money Saving Moms Club,
November 28, 2009

2009 Holiday Gift Guide
by Kristin

Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Story about Interracial Adoption

The journey of adoption is beautifully depicted with the comforting imagery of a poppy flower who is welcomed into a garden family. It is a charming story of "seeds" being planted in the perfect place - exactly where they belong. Children and adults will enjoy this simple yet meaningful story and homespun illustrations. The book's loving approach helps children to understand adoption. Andrea Nepa has captured the essence of adoption and family, and has illustrated it beautifully with images and poetry that even a small child can comprehend and enjoy.

Book Dragon Lair review

Book Dragon's Lair,
November 24, 2009

Three New Review Books
by Gina

Red in the Flower Bed
An Illustrated Children's Story about Interracial Adoption
The journey of adoption is beautifully depicted with the comforting imagery of a poppy flower who is welcomed into a garden family. It is a charming story of "seeds" being planted in the perfect place - exactly where they belong. Children and adults will enjoy this simple yet meaningful story and homespun illustrations. The book's loving approach helps children to understand adoption. Andrea Nepa has captured the essence of adoption and family, and has illustrated it beautifully with images and poetry that even a small child can comprehend and enjoy.

3 Peas in a Pod interview

3 Peas in a Pod,
November 21, 2009

Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Story about Interracial Adoption
by Alyson LaBarge

To go along with National Adoption Month, I have come across a wonderful book, written by an adoptive mom. Her name is Andrea Nepa and she is the author of Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children’s Story about Interracial Adoption.

The journey of adoption is beautifully depicted with the comforting imagery of a poppy flower who is welcomed into a garden family. It is a charming story of seeds being planted in the perfect place – exactly where they belong. Children and adults will enjoy this simple yet meaningful story and homespun illustrations. The book’s loving approach helps children to understand adoption.

I read it and loved it immediately. As the Mama to a foreign-born child myself, and one who knew the moment my daughter was placed in my arms that my family was complete, this story resonated especially true. I have shared it with my daughter who, although she is only three, loved the bright cheery colors and tender message of the book. Andrea, the author of the book, was kind enough to allow me to interview her.

What inspired you to write this story? How did you come to choose adoption?

Thanks for the interview. I was inspired to write this story when my daughter Leah was a toddler, because she asked questions about her adoption that we didn’t know the answer to (we were not given any info. about her biological parents), and because she sometimes would cry that she missed her birth mother. Although she really didn’t know her birth mother (she was given up the day she was born), I took this to mean that she felt abandoned by someone very close to her. It must be upsetting and confusing for a child to know this. I wanted Leah to know that she was very much wanted and loved by us, but that we would never ask her to forget her roots. The story took on more significance when she was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 5. Since my husband and I are both health professionals, and live 20 minutes from the best children’s hospital in the country (and probably the world), it seemed that she was meant to be with us. In fact, I work at that hospital and that is where Leah was cured (actually she has been in “remission” for 2 1/2 years).

Did you choose to not use the word “adoption” in the story on purpose?

I deliberately did not use the word adoption in the story so that the reader can interpret the book in their own way at their own pace according to their age level.

When you decided to adopt your daughter internationally did you feel that there would be challenges unique to becoming parents of a child with a different cultural background?

As far as adopting a child of a different cultural background, our adoption agency encourages all international adopters to learn about their child’s culture of birth.

How have you chosen to help her have pride in her birth heritage?

We were in Vietnam for 2 weeks when we adopted her, and participate in Asian New Year events, etc. and take Leah to Vietnamese restaurants (along with other ethnic restaurants, too). We enjoy learning about Vietnamese culture, too, which makes these experiences positive. Leah is proud to call herself Vietnamese, but I do remind her that she is also American, so that she feels that she belongs here too.

As your daughter grows older, have you found any unique challenges from being a multi-cultural family?

So far we have not encountered much prejudice, and there are a lot of Asian adoptees in our neighborhood and school system. Leah doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that she doesn’t look like us, but this might change when she is older. She does seem a little jealous, though, that I look like my twin sister!

Those who choose to adopt internationally go through many of the same requirements and experiences as do those who adopt domestically and I found Red in the Flower Bed to be very applicable to my oldest daughter who we adopted here in Texas as well.

We read the book together and she could really seem to relate to the thought process of how she needed to come be a part of our family, just like the seed. It was a great jumping off point for some conversation about her birth mom and how we could not be a family with out her.

There are many children’s books relating to adoption that can help families talk about their feelings and begin conversation that just come as part of the territory when you become a parent of adopted children.

Turning Pages review

Page Turners,
November 6, 2009

Red in the Flower Bed
by Amber Clark

Great story, to discuss adoption (interracial adoptions), I loved the illustrations. There really isn't much I can say about this book, that hasn't already been said in the synopsis. I was excited about reading this book, my mom was adopted and we have family members who have recently adopted. I will definitely, tell them about this book.

The poppy seed has to leave its home; it is carried by the wind. The poppy seed finally lands in a garden. It blooms into a beautiful red poppy. The color red was missing from the garden, so adding a red flower made the garden a rainbow of colors.

Kali's Blog review

Kali's Blog,
November 2, 2009

Answering the Call
by Kali Van Baale

November is National Adoption Awareness Month and November 21 is National Adoption Day—a campaign to raise awareness about the thousands of children, youth and pets waiting in foster care, orphanages around the world, and shelters for permanent loving families. A campaign particularly near and dear to my heart. We are a family who answered the call two years ago when my husband and I adopted our daughter, Gauri, from India.

I’m often asked what made us decide to adopt, and moreover, adopt internationally. I never feel like I’ve got a straight, easy answer. Every family’s decision and journey to adoption is different. Ours was certainly filled with plenty of twists and turns. The summer of 2005, with two healthy biological boys, my husband and I decided to try for a third. Boy or girl, we didn’t care. We just knew we wanted one more to properly fill out the craziness of our household.

Alas, heartbreak and disappointment abounded with two miscarriages, my third overall. It was an agonizing decision, but I couldn’t go through it again. I was done trying. We’d be a family of four. Only…we didn’t feel like a family of four. It was a nagging sense, like an unfinished sentence about our lives. After a time, my husband and I started to talk about how, in the early days of our marriage, we’d both mentioned how much we’d like to adopt a child. I generally don’t like to discuss our three lost babies, but I did, in that moment, have a strange sense that maybe we’d suffered those losses in order to find the child we were meant to have, wherever he or she was.

We quickly settled on international adoption, attracted to the idea of bringing another culture into our family, and simply followed our gut when we chose India. A year later, we had a referral for a little girl in an orphanage in Pune, a city where my husband’s company just happened to have an office. And this little girl just so happened to have the name Gauri—as in Goddess Gauri—a nurturing form of the Goddess Kali. And if that weren’t enough, it just so happened that our Gauri was born July 16, 2005, five days before I lost the second baby, and she was relinquished by her birth mother in mid-September, five days before I lost the third baby. This wasn’t answering a call; it was practically a shovel whack over our heads. And here we are, two years later. As a writer, I sometimes can’t find the words to express what adopting Gauri has been like. Wonderful. Amazing. Frustrating. Fun. Hard. Scary.

But…oh, so worth it.

In the spirit of National Adoption Month, I recently read two really sweet books about adoption. The first, Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children’s Story About Interracial Adoption by Andrea Nepa, is a beautifully illustrated picture book about a seed that drops from a poppy flower onto ground too hard for it to grow. Soon the wind and change of seasons carries the seed to a garden where it is planted and soon blooms into a brilliant red poppy—the missing color to finally complete the garden family’s rainbow. (Short intermission as I dab my eyes.) The poetry of Red in the Flower Bed is simple but charming, and an easy way to introduce the concept of family diversity to a little one. An added bonus—a portion of each sale benefits Paul’s Kids Vietnam Children’s Charity.

So here’s three cheers for National Adoption Month—whether you’re in the process of doing it, have done it, are thinking about it, or just plain think it’s great!

"I got more children than I can rightly take care of, but I ain’t got more than I can love."
–Ossie Guffy

Reading for Sanity review

Reading for Sanity,
October 24, 2009

Red in the Flower Bed - Andrea Nepa
by Mindy Oja

Many children will be attracted to Red in the Flower Bed's beautifully simple, yet colorful illustrations. It shares a universal message about familial acceptance and love. In a broader sense, this book could be applied to fitting in everywhere with the message that we "bloom where we are planted."

I thought this story was very sweet, had great pictures. It's cute.

A great read for any adoptive families, interracial or not, with young readers.