Adoption books can be a great way to teach your child about adoption and open the door to important conversations. Books can be an especially great way to begin explaining adoption to young children. I started collecting adoption books years before we brought our children home. We are big believers in talking to our kids often and openly about their adoptions. We have made adoption books a part of how we do this. It’s important to us that they know this part of their story.
Here are 50 books that begin to explain adoption to kids. You can read some of these adoption books to even the youngest of children. Depending on the specifics of your adoption story and your child’s age, some may make more sense than others.
(Where available, I’ve listed the age range after the description for quick reference. If no specific age range is given, I’ve listed it as “any age.”)
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Keeping Our Faith: An Adoption Story by Becky Cummings
Theme: Adopting A Sibling
Calvin and Tyson share their hopes and dreams about their new adoptive sibling as their parents demonstrate faith that everything will work out.
(Age Range: Any age)
Coco & Olive: The Color of Love by Michelle 
Theme: General Adoption
A doggie mother and daughter pair find each other through adoption.
(Age Range: Any age)
I Wished for You by Marianne Richmond
Theme: General Adoption
An adoption book about a conversation between a little bear and his mama as they talk about how God chose them to be a family and she answers his questions about adoption.
(Age Range: 2-5 years)
I Prayed for You by Jean Fischer
Theme: General Adoption
A story of a mother bear who prayed for her child’s arrival, as well as each of her baby’s firsts
(Age Range: Baby-4 years)
The Adoption Tree by Kimberly James
Theme: General Adoption
A little seedling is uprooted from where it was originally growing and planted into a new place perfectly chosen for it.
(Age Range: Any age)
And That’s Why She’s My Mama by Tiarra Nazario
Theme: Transracial Adoption
This story discusses how mamas come in all different shapes, colors, and ages, but one thing is the same; they love you.
(Age Range: 1-7 years)
The Story of My Open Adoption: A Storybook for Children Adopted at Birth by Leah Campbell
Theme: Open Adoption
A little squirrel named Sammy is adopted at birth and Mom and Dad Rabbit brings him to meet his first (biological) family.
(Age Range: 3-5 years)
I’m Yours: An Adoption Story from a Mother’s Heart by Ashley Cameron
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
A faith-based book about international adoption that helps make the emotions of adoption approachable for a child.
(Age Range: Any age)
God Found Us You by Lisa Tawn Bergren and Laura J. Bryant
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
As little fox gets ready for bed, Mama Fox tells him the miraculous (faith-based) story of how he came home through adoption.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
Some Babies are Adopted by Cindy Walker
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
The story of a birth mother who prayerfully chooses adoption for her child and searches for a loving adoptive couple.
(Age Range: Any age)
Discovering Me: A Journey Book About Adoption by Betsy Trainor
Theme: General Adoption
This story shares how the path of adoption is different for each child, but every story is unique and special.
(Age Range: Any age)
Yes, I’m Adopted! by Sharlie Zinniger and Tiffany Cunliffe
Theme: General Adoption
This book is written from a child’s point of view as they go through an adoption journey from start to finish.
(Age Range: Any age)
The Invisible String Paperback by Patrice Karst
Theme: General Adoption
This story helps with separation anxiety, loss, and grief as a mother explains to her two children that they’re all connected by an invisible string made of love.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
Discusses how children have their own special gifts and how they fit into God’s divine plan.
(Age Range: 3-7 years)
Forever Family by Kelly & Lindsey Bullard
Theme: General Adoption
This story helps explain adoption to kids using the gotcha day to tell a story.
(Age Range: Any age)
Theme: Open Adoption
Explains the benefits of adoption openness as the character gets to meet his biological family and form an ongoing relationship with them.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
God Gave Us Family by Lisa Tawn Bergren
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
This story uses a family reunion to teach about the families that God brings together and how families look different but are all special.
(Age Range: 3-7 years)
Wonderful You: An Adoption Story by Lauren McLaughlin
Theme: General Adoption
A lyrical adoption story about a baby’s transition from the care of her birth mother to her adoptive parents as it shows respect for the birth mother’s choice.
(Age Range: 3-7 years)
Mommy and Me Don’t Match by K Monsma
Theme: Transracial Adoption
A mother and daughter have a discussion about the visual differences between them.
(Age Range: Any age)
Ally’s Big Book of Friends: Adoption Stories by Khloe Lee Banks
Theme: General Adoption
Ally is six years old and she tells us about her many friends, neighbors, and relatives whose families were all created through adoption.
(Age Range: 1-8 years)
Family By Love: A Story of Open Adoption by Kaycee Parker
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
A faith-based story about Sophia’s journey to becoming a big sister to her newly-adopted brother.
(Age Range: Any age)
Cocoa’s New Family: An Adoption Story by Gwendolyn DelCoglin
Theme: General Adoption
A children’s book about adoption and how we can each learn what we contribute to the family.
(Age Range: Any age)
Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey by Kelly DiBenedetto
Theme: General Adoption
Charlie is an adoptee who opens his heart and shares his thoughts through various phases as he grows up in his adoptive home.
(Age Range: Any age)
My New Mom and Me by Renota Galindo
Theme: Older Child Adoption
When puppy first comes to live with his new mom, he is nervous because they look different but he soon learns to appreciate the differences.
(Age Range: 3-7 years)
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis
Theme: General Adoption
A child asks her parents to tell her again about the night she was born as the story focuses on family and love
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
Why Did You Choose Me? by Katie Cruice Smith
Theme: General Adoption
Drawing from her own experience as an adoptive mom to three children, Katie uses the questions her own children have asked to help them understand adoption.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
My Family Is Forever by Nancy Carlson
Theme: General Adoption
Families look different as some are formed through birth and some through adoption but, love is what makes a family.
(Age Range: 3-5 years)
God Painted Me by Carol Bauman
Theme: Faith-Based Adoption
A faith-based story about how we are loved through adoption as Mason tells his mommy how God painted him and all that is in the world.
(Age Range: Any age)
Forever Fingerprints: An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Children by Sherrie Eldridge
Theme: General Adoption
A story addressing some of the difficult questions and feelings commonly expressed by children who are adopted with ideas for creative activities to explore issues such as belonging, identity, self-esteem, and connection.
(Age Range: 5-8 years)
Roxie the Doxie Finds Her Forever Home by Dean A Jody
Theme: Foster Adoption
Roxie, a dachshund dog, makes the transition from her temporary foster home to her new forever home; includes a parent and therapist Guide to help assist children through the transition.
(Age Range: 4-9 years)
Little Miss Spider by David Kirk
Theme: General Adoption
A little spider has just popped out of her egg and is wondering where her mother could be as a passing beetle offers assistance and the search continues.
(Age Range: 1-5 years)
A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza
Theme: General Adoption
Choco, the bird sets off to find his mother, asking all kinds of animals, but he doesn’t meet anyone who looks just like him and he ultimately learns that families can come in all shapes and sizes.
(Age Range: 2-5 years)
Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale by Karen Katz
Theme: International Adoption
An affirming story about international adoption, based on the author’s own experience with her daughter.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
I Don’t Have Your Eyes by Carrie A. Kitze
Theme: Transracial Adoption
This story celebrates the differences within families as well as the similarities that connect them.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
Theme: General Adoption
Each year on his birthday, a young Mexican American boy looks forward to seeing how his grandfather has decorated the tree he planted on the day the boy was adopted.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
My Adopted Child, There’s No One Like You by Dr. Kevin Leman and Kevin Leman II
Theme: General Adoption
My Adopted Child, There’s No One Like You conveys love, acceptance, and a sense of individuality to adopted children.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
I’ve Loved You Since Forever by Hoda Kotb
Theme: General Adoption
This story expresses the love felt between parent and child and is inspired by Today show co-anchor Hoda Kotb’s adoption of her baby girl.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
Theme: General Adoption
Horace, an adopted child, realizes that being part of a family depends on how you feel and not how you look.
(Age Range: 5-6 years)
Love You From Right Here by Jamie Sandefer (A Keepsake Book for Children in Foster Care)
Theme: Foster Adoption
Written from the perspective of the foster parent to the child in foster care featuring many characters including men, women, boys, and girls.
(Age Range: 2-10 years)
Speranza’s Sweater by Marcy Pusey
Theme: Older Child Adoption
Speranza wears her sweater everywhere, hanging onto the last memories of her birth home as she weaves together a new story, and discovers the true meaning of home.
(Age Range: Any age)
A Piglet Named Mercy by Kate DiCamillo
Theme: General Adoption
Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson live ordinary lives until a tiny piglet shows up bringing love (and chaos) to Deckawoo Drive — and the Watsons’ lives will never be the same.
(Age Range: 3-8 years)
Foster Care: One Dog’s Story of Change by Julia Cook
Theme: Foster Adoption
Foster meets new friends and a kind foster mom who helps him navigate the fears and feelings associated with going into foster care.
(Age Range: 5-8 years)
Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman
Theme: General Adoption
The Bunny family has adopted a wolf son, and daughter Dot is the only one who realizes Wolfie could eat them, but in a twist of fate Wolfie is the one threatened and Dot needs to save the day.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
We Chose You: A Book About Adoption, Family, and Forever Love by Tony and Lauren Dungy
Theme: General Adoption
When adopted son Calvin needs to tell about his family for a class assignment, he discovers his parents were praying for him long before they chose him and that God chose them for Calvin.
(Age Range: 6-9 years)
Star of the Week: A Story of Love, Adoption, and Brownies with Sprinkles by Darlene Friedman
Theme: International Adoption
Adopted from China when she was a baby, Cassidy Li doesn’t have a photo of her birthparents but with a little help from her family, she comes up with the perfect way to include them.
(Age Range: 5-8 years)
The Best Family in the World by Susana Lopez
Theme: Older Child Adoption
Carlotta is being adopted tomorrow; as she anxiously waits for her new family, she wonders what they’ll be like and imagines all kinds of wonderful families.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
Happy Adoption Day! by John McCutcheon
Theme: General Adoption
This adaptation of McCutcheon’s song commemorates the day when a child joins an adoptive family.
(Age Range: 4-8 years)
A Gift for Little Tree by Colleen D.C. Marquez
Theme: General Adoption
A story of an apple tree who is unable to bear fruit until a farmer grafts a bud onto Little Tree’s limb, and she becomes the most colorful tree in the orchard learning that it does not matter if her apples came from another tree.
(Age Range: 5-7 years)
Theme: General Adoption
Provides an understanding of how the adoption process works and the feelings that many children have about being adopted.
(Age Range: 8-11 years)
Theme: General Adoption
Knocked from her mother’s safe embrace by an attacking owl, Stellaluna lands headfirst in a bird’s nest and is adopted by the occupants of the nest.
(Age Range: 4-7 years)
I hope you found this list of 50 adoption books helpful. If you keep the conversations around adoption open from the beginning, it will be a more natural part of your child’s story. This will help your child build their sense of self and develop positive feelings around adoption.
For more information about 5 different types of adoption and their associated cost, here is a detailed post with a free cost guide.
