Peach Girl: Poems for a Chinese Daughter

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Summary: Peach Girl - Poems for a Chinese Daughter
Review: As an adoptive mom of a Chinese daughter, this book has touched the core of my being. I absolutely love the poems! Since I purchased this book last summer (it is now October), I have read each and every one of the poems probably a hundred times over and they touch my heart every single time I read them. I VERY HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone considering it! My only question is...when is the NEXT one coming out?

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly moving tribute
Review: I am also the mom to 2 little girls from China. I bought the book at the recommendation of a friend and when it arrived, I quickly opened it to see what she had 'raved' about. The book opened to page 6, the poem Ghost Mother - which is about the Mom's fears and interpretations of her daughter's night-terrors. It is a brief poem, and as I read it, I audibly gasped and could not stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. Here on this page were the words that ran through my head all of those nights when I, too, tried to help my daughter through the darkness. My fears and heartache were splashed across every page of this book -- as well as my joy and pride and love for my girls.

Both Joan and Joel have detailed the experience of adopting a child from China, probably from anywhere, so well. The emotions are deep and genuine.

I read aloud from the book that night (last night) and as I sat, voice quavering, tears streaming from my eyes at times, smiles darting across my face some times, the same emotions played out across the face of our au pair as she listened to the words. It was wonderful. They are wonderful words.

As my 16 month old slept soundly upstairs, my 4.5 year old came over and took my hand - "Momma, don't cry", she said so sweetly. I hugged her close and showed her the book, the photos of the Siegel-Solonche family. "She is from China"? Yes, she was adopted and came to live here with her Momma and Daddy, just like you - "and our baby" - yes, and our baby. "Then you are crying happy tears?", yes, honey, I am crying happy tears.

You will too .........

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Summary: Peach Girl is everyone's child.
Review: What a treasure! These poems reached out to me and caught me up in the moments & thoughts of both the adoptive parents and their daughter, Peach Girl. They brought back again similar moments with my own biological daughters, like the questions a child can ask, "Do the days ever end?". They made me feel new ones: wondering what that first mother, in China, was like and how she felt. Some poems, like Joan's "Dandelions", teach me about the adoptive experience: seeing your daughter in this world, "You are bending in the grass/picking dandelions", and wondering about the world from which she came, "I think about your country/where not long ago/you were a bundle left on a roadside". Others, like Joel's "Bath", bring humor: "Wars begin like this./America wants China to take a bath" or the not-often-heard feelings of the new father, "I Have Spent The Day Saying Father." All are filled with such love. This is a book to share with any parent, grandparent or child.