Picture Book Meets Needs of Neglected Group of Kids: Eastern European Adoptees

A new children's picture book has been released about the experience of children adopted from Russia. Despite 50,000 families created by Eastern European adoption in the past 10 years there have been no picture books for this group until now.

(PRWEB) June 16, 2005 -- In the past ten years Americans have adopted over fifty thousand children from Russia and other nearby countries like Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Romania. Astonishingly, few childrens picture books on the subject have been published -- until now.

When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption, by Adrienne Ehlert Bashista and illustrated by Christine Sykes (DRT Press, ISBN 1933084006) is a cross between a love letter and a history of the childs life before and after adoption. When I Met You uses simple yet effective language to explore how the childs two homes -- a Russian orphanage and an American family -- compare and contrast. Illustrator Christine Sykes uses sepia tones and hazy images to portray the childs life in the past and vivid color images to show the childs life in the present.

Adrienne Ehlert Bashista, the author of When I Met You, is an adoptive mother of a little boy from Russia. I wrote the book for him as well as for the hundreds of thousands of children in orphanages all over Eastern Europe," she says. I wanted to acknowledge their lives before adoption as important and interesting, but also to celebrate how things are now. If you havent been involved in the adoption of a child who lived in an orphanage, youd think kids would be happy to leave. The truth is that its their home. Some of them have been there since a few days after they were born. Theyre being removed from familiar people, food, sleeping conditions -- everything they consider normal."

The wonderful thing about this book is that while it may not reflect the exact story of each child adopted from Russia, it provides a starting point for parents and children to discuss the origins of their family. It is a story of acceptance, nurturing and love that honors the childs feelings for the past.

If youd like more information about When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption or to schedule an interview with author Adrienne Ehlert Bashista, please contact us at editorial@drtpress.com.

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