Here to Help: Books about Adoption

By sharing stories together and having conversations about the books you read, you can help young children understand the world around them. Seeing diverse experiences represented in books helps children to explore their own identities and develop empathy for others.

Children may have questions or worries about what it means to be adopted into a family rather than born into one.  With these picture books, help children understand that love can make a family even when everyone is different.

Not every book is available at all locations, but any title can be requested. The children’s librarian at your neighborhood library is also here to help, with suggestions for additional titles on topics of interest–or feel free to suggest some titles to us.  New books are always being added to the collection. You can find more Here to Help booklists on different topics by clicking here. 

Dragon's Extraordinary Egg

A dragon finds an abandoned egg and lovingly raises the hatchling as her own, although Little One is very different from the baby dragons, and when disaster strikes it is the small, feathered hatchling that saves the day.


Guji Guji

Crocodile Guji Guji was raised by a family of ducks. One day he met 3 crocodiles who told him that he was not a duck. They ask Guji Guji to help them trap ducks. Guji Guji then tricked the crocodiles and saved duck family.


Home at Last

After Lester is adopted from his foster home by Daddy Albert and Daddy Rich, he can’t fall asleep in his new bed. What will it take to make Lester feel home at last.


Home for A While

Calvin has lived in many houses that never felt like home, but Maggie, his new foster mother, helps him deal with him emotions when he misbehaves, and still offers hugs.



Little Chick and Mommy Cat

A tale that explores themes of diversity, adoption, and alternative family life follows a little chick who shares a happy relationship with his loving mother, a cat with soft fur, tickling whiskers, and a long beautiful tail.


A Most Unusual Day

Caroline is anxious all day at school, nervous about her newly-adopted sister’s arrival from far away.


My New Mom & Me

A puppy comes to live with his adoptive mother, who is a cat.


A Thirst for Home: A Story of Water Across the World

Alemitu lives with her mother in a poor village in Ethiopia, where she must walk miles for water and hunger roars in her belly. Even though life is difficult, she dreams of someday knowing more about the world. When her mother has no choice but to leave her at an orphanage to give her a chance at a better life, an American family adopts Alemitu.