When Pump Up Your Book Promotion contacted me with the offer to send me a copy of the book Letter of Love from China for review, I jumped at the chance. I love having stacks of children’s picture books in my home, since one of my greatest joys is being able to read to my girls. I thought this book, written by Bonnie Cuzzolino, would be a wonderful addition to our library since it deals with an issue close to my heart - international adoption.
Letter of Love from China is based on a fictitious letter from a Chinese birth mother to her daughter, who has been given up for adoption. Cuzzolino writes “my hope is to provide insight into the feelings of the birth mothers when they made this difficult decision. For, it is them we owe the precious gift of our children.” The first half of the book hits the mark perfectly. It tells in very simple terms how much this birth mother loved her daughter and how she made the best decision possible for the well being of her little girl. Having adopted my youngest daughter from China, I found this part of the book may help her understand why she was given up for adoption and how she became a part of our family.
Unfortunately, half way through the book the initial message became muddled and it felt like I was reading a completely different book. I think I understand what the author was trying to do. Why not add some cultural information about China in a book about Chinese adoption? I do believe that it is important as adoptive parents of children from China that we try to enlighten them about the country and culture they have left behind, but in doing so in Letter of Love from China, the flow of the writing was broken and some of the significance of the story was lost.
In the end, I enjoyed the book and found it a valuable addition to our home library, but wish it had stuck to the initial message - that our children were loved even before they became part of their adoptive families.
If you want to find out more about this book, be sure to check out these other sites for reviews: Mayra’s Secret Bookcase, The Slippery Book Review Blog, Bloggin’ ’bout Books and Amateur de Livre’s Weblog.
