A. M. Volk / AMVolk
A beautiful and poetic story that ties both to nature and the foster care/adoption experience. A non-rhyming children's picture book that is written in such a way that it can be read to any child (not just adoption specific) even though the story lends itself to foster/adoption because of the parallels throughout. This book could also be a great way to begin to expose children to concepts of foster care in a safe way if they have friends or family members who are foster/adopted children. It is a scenic nature book that many children who love nature would enjoy reading. The story follows the life of a young maple Seed who is carried by the Wind from the Mother tree to a new family of trees and then finally a forever set of trees. The seed grows throughout the story, becoming a sprout, and then finally a young tree. The Wind is a constant comforting presence throughout the narrative. The illustrations depict a mother and daughter walking through the woods observing the scenery and the seed throughout its journey. Although it is not explicitly stated that the mother is telling the story as they walk through the scenes, it is implied. The story addresses key elements not often addressed in other adoption focused children's books. 1) There is beauty in the life as it is beginning, as the life travels to a foster home, and as the life finds a forever home because regardless of circumstances any dimension that life exists in is a beautiful one.2) Unfortunately, not all children have the experience of a birth mother who was healthy and chose to give their child to a family who could care for them appropriately. Children adopted through Foster care are abruptly removed from birth families due to severe neglect and abuse, therefore the concept must be depicted in a fragile yet truthful way for the child to understand it and accept it as true. This book addresses this issue by representing the Mother Tree as sick and no longer healthy enough to care for her seed. Given that addiction is prevalent in abuse and neglect situations this story identifies the beauty of the Mother Tree while representing the truth that her "health" plays a factor in her inability to care for her seed.3) God didn't just arrive on the scene in the end of the story, in the happy adopted ending. He was there throughout the life, in the beginning, the traveling, and the forever home. This book portrays comfort in His presence and care for life far beyond even the comfort found in a forever home through the character of the Wind.4) Life can finally grow and thrive in the forever home. It can be hard for a foster child to finally thrive after so much uprooting, but no season or change will take the child from the forever home. Finally, writing this as an allegory for the adopted foster child's circumstances purposefully provides the opportunity for parents, with every year of reading it, to in their own specific way, elaborate and give adopted children more pieces of their foster story as the child grows and begins to ask more questions.
