Monday, June 2, 2014

List of Adoption Books and Movies







List of Adoption Books and Movies



     There have been so many adoption theme books and movies lately. Obviously, I have not read or watched them all, but I thought I would give my input on what I have read and seen recently. I would love others input as well in the comments. I am not going to review my own adoption book. You can read the reviews on Amazon if you want to know more about my book. Be sure to check out the reviews on the books and movies listed in this post as well. I will post links throughout this post. You may find some of these movies on Neflix or Amazon Prime. 



     We read so many books about 9 years ago, that I cannot remember all of them, but I know we had to read a lot of “how to adopt books” to feel somewhat comfortable on how to pick an agency or attorney. I am not including the books we read back then because I cannot remember much about them.



    These are domestic adoption books and one foster/adopt book. I read a lot about international adoption during the beginning of our journey, but I do not remember which ones.



   First off, we rarely watch movies without our kids so it is rare for me to see a movie without them. So most of the movies on this list are family friendly unless I state otherwise. Spoiler alerts ahead:




We (me, husband and kids) enjoyed both of these movies. The first one did not portray adoption well at first, but the movie did have a good ending. The second did a much better job. I know some people that did not give these movies a chance since the children were given away in the first movie, but the main character, Mr. Gru, needed to know what he lost to find that he did indeed love them and did need them and wanted to be a parent. He was not looking to be a dad. He was evil, remember? Again, it had a good ending. We watch these movies all the time.




Lilo and her sister, Nani, lost their parents. So Nani takes care of both of them. Being young, she makes a lot of mistakes and risks loosing her sister Lilo. Stitch is an alien who is looking for a place to fit in. There is a social worker in the movie. This is a good movie, and there is a happy ending.




Wow, who hasn’t seen Annie?  LOVE this movie. We have to take in account that this movie took place back when laws were not enforce for the good of kids.  So Ms. Hanniagan was not the best role model for kids. Another happy ending.




Adoption is not heavily talked about in this series except in the beginning of the movie. Anne is adopted. Other than that, it is not mention much after she lives with her new parents. I have always loved this sweet series. All girls love Anne.




These movies are hilarious. They hardly get into adoption themes in the first one, but it is known that he is adopted. We find out more about his biological family in the 2nd one, which is sad as they had no choice. He loves his dad, the one that adopted him. Excellent movies.  




My daughter saw this at school and enjoyed it. I did not like the beginning of this movie when I saw it. Each potential adoptive family that met him kept passing the boy and did not want to adopt him. So much rejection. It went on and on. My daughter said the movie was funny, and he got his family in the end. So I will leave it up to you. 




Penny is kidnapped and needs help. She wants a family. Another happy ending.




Tarzan is adopted by, Kala, a female Gorilla. Her son recently died as did Tarzan’s biological parents. Tarzan searches for where he belongs throughout the movie.




Born a God, but stolen and left on Earth. A nice family adopts him. He continues to search for “where he belongs”, but discovers it was where he was after all. We love the music.



I know there are most likely more adoption theme kid’s movies, but these are what come to mind.




(Adult themes due to abortion) I would not recommend this movie for children.

This movie was quite good, but also very grim. This is a Christian based movie. There is a good ending in the sense of forgiveness, but I still found the movie quite sad. There is also a book.




Wow, this movie rocks. Loved it! Excellent story about adoption. Based on a true story. I would watch this with teenagers and up.




Interesting movie. Shows that open adoption can work. I didn’t like the potential adoptive dad’s attitude throughout the movie, but again, this is a movie, not real life. Not my favorite adoption movie, but I know a lot of people seemed to like it.




This is an older movie. Relative passes away and leaves the baby with the main character. She is going to place the baby for adoption but falls in love with her and now has to figure out how to parent her. This is a cute movie.




Yeah, I know, Superman was adopted, but this movie focuses on it more. We get to see him struggle with his identity. Maybe it could spark some conversations in teenagers? And I really, really liked this movie too. 



You will find all kinds of made-for-TV-movies that take a black and white approach. The biological parents or adopted parents are evil and the other is good. There is no gray area. Nothing realistic. I cannot stand these movies. Sadly, this is usually how the media portrays adoption. I also have a hard time when a celebrity person dies and they list the children and always call out the ones that are adopted. Why do we need to know that? They are their children. They do not need an extra label. (Beauty of this being MY blog, I can state what I like and as random as I like) :-)



Books:




I loved this book. It was full of humor, but it still was serious enough to show you that adoption is wonderful. This book was written by Nia Vardalos, screenwriter and actress from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She writes about adopting her daughter from foster care and becoming an instant mom to a three-year-old.




I think anyone adopting or if they are even thinking of adopting should read this book. The title speaks for itself.




This is the most heartbreaking book I have read in a long time. (There is also a movie) I could barely get through the book, as it was so sad! This book shows you why we must have laws protecting everyone, and why we must have open adoption. (Extreme adult themes throughout this book, and I hear the movie)


Kids' Books:
 

Wow, this is the cutest book from the illustrations to the beautiful written words. Whereas this is not an adoption book it will work for any child as it is that beautiful. This book will not disappoint.  




My daughters ask to read this over and over. Even though we did not fly on a plane to bring our daughters home, this book is a funny treasure. It nearly always brings up “Please tell me about the night you brought me home”. I wish I had gotten the hard copy since we have read it so much.




This is such a cute little book. A Blessing From Above is a Christian book with some scripture. I think this book explains quite well what a blessing children are.

I am looking forward to reading your comments. 

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