SuitabookI Wished for You: An Adoption Story
Marianne Richmond
- Reading
- Read it together and pause after Barley’s questions rather than treating Mama’s answers as a complete template. Let your child lead, clarify what applies to their story, and return to unresolved questions later.
- Themes
- Adoption and belonging: Barley Bear asks his adoptive mother how they became a family, and she responds within a loving conversation. The relationship is presented as affectionate and important, with belonging located in the parent-child connection.
- Birth-family separation: The story addresses why a first or birth mother chose adoption and refers to loss connected with a birth parent. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Family difference and belief: Families may not look alike; one reader also reports religious wording connected with how the family came together. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Worth knowing
- Notice whether the book’s framing fits your family’s understanding of adoption. It refers to birth-parent loss, families with different appearances and, according to one reader, religious language that may not suit every household.