Adoption Books with Great Art: The Tummy Mummy

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

17 Jan 2008 07:58 PM

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, especially to children who are often visual thinkers. Hence this series of blogs on children's adoption books with beautiful artwork.

I have both praise for and caveats about the book Tummy Mummy, by author Michelle-Madrid-Branch, who was herself adopted. The book wonderfully conveys the birthmother's concern for her child: "I love you, my special baby and my heart is full of emotion...because I know I am not the one to raise you. What am I to do?"

The look on the (very) pregnant woman's face is beautiful. Then the book gets fanciful-a great owl tells the woman about a house on the other side of the lake which is full of love-but with an empty cradle. The owl tows the birthmother and baby across the lake in a canoe.

Children take things literally until about age seven. Some adopted children have assumed they were not born as other children were born, but somehow are a different kind of being who arrived via airplane. So I am a little bit concerned about the children thinking they came across a lake via owl. However, perhaps this is no different than the fairy tale of the stork, or the story Gift from Afar, which explains how a stork became an airplane lovingly bearing children across the seas. Such images do convey the love parents have for their children, the longing they had for them, and the magical feeling we feel when our children finally arrive. The book clearly states that the adoptive parents are the parents.

The book clearly states that the adoptive parents are the parents, and conveys that adoption is forever, and that all parties love the child. The illustrations are, as I mentioned, absolutely beautiful. At first I noticed that the adoptive parents are painted as less physically attractive than the birthmother, and I thought perhaps this was unfair. But on the other hand, perhaps it is good to have children's books which picture people as real people!

The woman (who is never actually referred to by the term "birthmother" tells the couple: "We've come to fill your cradle". The adoptive parents promise to love the child forever and tell her how much her Tummy Mummy loves her. Later the woman looks at the moon, shining across the lake toward the house where the adoptive parents play with their daughter.

"Yes," the book concludes, "adoption means love."

Please see this related blog:

Book Review: Adoption Stories for Young Children

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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