Mommy Far, Mommy Near: An Adoption Story - Hardcover

Peacock, Carol Antoinette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807552348 ISBN 13: 9780807552346

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co, 2000

Synopsis

Young Elizabeth feels a range of emotions as she learns that she has two mommies: one in China and one in America. Her adoptive mother explains that although her Chinese mother loved Elizabeth and wanted to keep her, she couldn't because of China's laws.

About this title

About the Authors

Carol Antoinette Peacock is a published author of children's books and young adult books. Some of the published credits of Carol Antoinette Peacock include Pilgrim Cat (Albert Whitman Prairie Paperback), Death And Dying (Life Balance).

Shawn Costello Brownell is a published illustrator of children's books. A published credit of Shawn Costello Brownell is Mommy Far, Mommy Near: An Adoption Story.

Reviews

Although Elizabeth, a young Chinese girl, is secure in the love of her adoptive Caucasian American family, she still has questions. Why, if China is such a big country, wasn't there room for all the babies? Didn't her mother love her? Such questions surface in games with her younger Chinese sister, in loving give-and-take with her American mother, and in hurt feelings after seeing a Chinese mother and daughter at the playground. Decorated in floral patterns and colored in lush, velvety hues, the thickly stroked, realistic artwork expands on the text while heightening the emotions it conveys. Elizabeth's misgivings are met head-on by her adoptive mother's reassurance, love, and thoughtful responses. The mother's tender support not only reassures Elizabeth but will also benefit other adoptees, especially those from Third World countries, as it reinforces the efforts of all loving, adoptive parents. Ellen Mandel

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Mommy Far, Mommy Near

An Adoption Story

By Carol Antoinette Peacock, Shawn Costello Brownell

ALBERT WHITMAN & Company

Copyright © 2000 Carol Antoinette Peacock
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8075-5234-6

CHAPTER 1

I am Elizabeth, which starts with an E. I have black eyes and shiny black hair. I love to do cartwheels and climb trees. I can make popcorn in the microwave, and I like to pick the biggest chocolate chips out of cookie dough. I tell knock-knock jokes, very hilarious. Also, I can do the hokey-pokey.

Now about my family. I have a mommy and a daddy and a little sister named Katherine. Katherine and I were born in China. That's a big country far away.

I don't remember about being born. Mommy made a photo book about how I was adopted from China when I was a baby. The book has lots of pages and a silver cover, and it is very heavy.

"Read," I say to my mother, holding the book in my lap.

Mommy snuggles me, and we read the story together. First there is a picture of my crib, with nothing in it.

"No baby," I say. "You were sad."

Mommy nods. "Mommy and Daddy wanted a baby so much. But we couldn't have one."

I pat Mommy's leg to comfort her.

Next come Mommy and Daddy holding me. "Now we have a baby," my mother says. "Our wonderful baby, Elizabeth."

"Now you are happy," I tell her.

Mommy squeezes me tight.

I am happy, too.

Also in my family is Penny, our dog. I like to roll on the floor with her. Penny's yellow fur is so soft, she makes a big dog pillow.

One day Mommy said, "Do you know how we got Penny? We adopted her. Penny had no family. So we went to a shelter, and we chose her. We made Penny part of our family."

"Where is Penny's mommy?" I asked.

Mommy said that she didn't know. The mother dog couldn't take care of Penny, she said.

I grabbed Penny's neck and kissed her on her wet black nose because once Penny had no dog family, and now she had our family to give her hugs and love.

I made up a game for Mommy and me to play every night at bedtime. The game was called "Look."

"Look" meant I lay on my mommy's tummy. Our faces touched. I waited until I could hear my mother's heart thumping softly, like a drum.

"Look," I said. "No songs, no kisses. Just look."

Mommy and I would look and look and look at each other.

One night during Look, Mommy said, "Are our eyes different or the same?"

Different, I told her. Mommy's were two circles, the outside one green, the inside one black. Mine were one large circle, very black.

"Yes, and your eyes are almond and mine are oval," Mommy said. She sat up and drew me closer.

"But our smiles are the same, Mommy. Exactly the same! We both smile with dents in our cheeks. Now, no words, Mommy. Just look."

"When did your mommy get you from China?" I asked my mother one day.

Mommy said that she did not come from China. She was born in America.

"I thought all babies came from my China."

"No, honey." My mommy's voice was soft. "Babies come from inside their mommy, Elizabeth."

"But Mommy," I said, "I always thought I came from my China." I felt afraid.

Mommy lifted me onto her lap. She said I was right, I did come from China. That was the country where I was born.

Mommy talked very slowly. Did I remember the empty crib? she asked. She had not been able to have a baby because she was too old.

Then she said that I had two mommies. I had a mother in China who grew me in her tummy. And I had her, the mother who adopted me.

"Are you telling the truth, Mommy?" I asked.

She nodded.

Two mommies! I had two mommies! I felt dizzy, like when I do too many somersaults. I went outside to climb my favorite tree. Two mommies, two mommies, I kept saying over and over and over as I climbed.

I tried to tell Katherine what our mommy had said. Katherine was busy ripping up an old magazine. She was almost three, and she didn't listen that well.

"Katherine," I told her, "Mommy said I have a mommy in China that grew me in her tummy. And you have a mother in China, too. The one who got you born."

Katherine kept ripping.

"And we also have our other mommy right here. The one we call Mommy. We each have two mommies, Katherine. One is far away, and one is in our house.

"A far mommy and a near mommy," I said.

Katherine and I talked on our toy telephones a lot. Once in a while I pretended it was my mommy from China calling.

"Katherine," I would say, "it's my mommy from China."

Katherine would yell, "Hello, Elizabeth's China mommy! What are you doing?"

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Mommy Far, Mommy Near by Carol Antoinette Peacock, Shawn Costello Brownell. Copyright © 2000 Carol Antoinette Peacock. Excerpted by permission of ALBERT WHITMAN & Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807552348
• ISBN 13: 9780807552346
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Brownell Shawn Costello
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32