Wayne Willis, This Is How We Became a Family (Magination Press, 2000)

I've been reading a lot of kids' books about adoption recently,
getting them out of the library and trying to figure out which ones we
want to buy for our own kid. This is the most recent of them, and
while I admire what it sets out to do, there's something off in how it
goes about doing it.

The book presents its situation in straightforward language, but it
seems almost cold, informative but distant; the language is
age-appropriate (this is aimed at the preschool set), but the tone
isn't in some way I can't quite define. While I can't say that
underinvesting the language in emotion is worse than overinvesting
same (quite the opposite, in fact), this one seems to go a bit too far
in the right direction, if that makes any sense. And, to be technical
about it, the pictures (photorealistic, but with a primitive streak)
creep me out. I doubt they'd have that effect on a kid, but who's
going to be reading the book to the kid, eh?

I'd suggest getting this one out of the library and giving it a
going-over first if you're thinking about buying it. ** ½