Book Review: a Koala for Katie

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

02 Sep 2009 04:59 PM

A Mother for Choco and A Koala for Katie are both books emphasizing that, while it is sad that first parents sometimes cannot care for children, the children can be happy with other parents. Parenting is a matter of how one cares for the child, not whether a parent looks like the child or is the child's first parent.

While A Mother for Choco talks about a child searching for a mother nad whether a mother has to look like her child, A Koala for Katie is about a girl who processes her own adoption story "adopting" a stuffed animal, becoming the "real mommy" by feeding, protecting, loving and comforting the baby.

Katie has thought a lot about babies, pretending with a pillow under her shirt, and asking whether she grew in her "real mommy's" tummy. Her mother says yes, then adds, "I'm your real mommy, too."

Katie asks, "Why didn't my first mommy want me?" Her mother replies that her birthmother loved her but couldn't care for her, and wanted her to have a better life than she could give her.

At the zoo, Katie spies a baby koala clinging tightly to its mother's back. She asks her parents what would happen if the baby's mother could no longer care for it. Her parents say that the zoo might find the baby another mother. Katie says that would be sad, and her parents say that it would be, but the baby could be happy with a new mother, too.

Seeing a stuffed koala in the zoo store, Katie asks her parents to buy it as a special treat. She pretends to feed the baby koala and puts in on her back when it's scared, and protects it from imaginary snakes, and snuggles with it at night. "Mommy Koala loved you," Katie explains to the bear, "but she couldn't take care of you. So I'm your mommy now...I'll protect you always."

The koala thanks Katie for adopting her, and Katie informs her parents that she's really the koala's mommy now.

"And you're really our little girl," replies Daddy.

Please see these related blogs:

Little Miss Spider

Book Review: Adoption Stories for Young Children

Talking About Tough Issues: Abandonment

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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