I love books.

I have hundreds of them in my house, and I check out many more from the library every month.

So it makes sense that, as a birthmother and someone who wants to be informed about the perspectives of all triad members, I would have amassed quite a collection of adoption-related books. Some of them are classics, some are duds, and some are rare or out of print...but all of them contain at least a certain amount of worthwhile knowledge.

Below is a list of the adoption books I own. Obviously I don’t have space to review them all, but perhaps you can use this list as a bibliography to become familiar with some of the titles that exist. You can search out those you may be interested in, or you can use them as stepping stones to help you find even more books. (More books = never a bad thing.)

I thought about grouping them in categories for you, but decided against it, since ultimately, I believe in reading across lines. Adoptive parents need to read about birthparents, birthparents need to read about adoptive parents, and everyone needs to read about adopted people.

Here's the list.

An Empty Lap: One Couple’s Journey to Parenthood - Jill Smolowe
The Limits of Hope: An Adoptive Mother’s Story – Ann Kimble Loux
Shedding Light On…The Dark Side of Adoption – Mirah Riben
Synchronicity & Reunion: The Genetic Connection of Adoptees and Birthaprents – LaVonne Harper Stiffler
Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption – E. Wayne Carp
Confessions of a Lost Mother – Elisa Barton
Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America – Adam Pertman
Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness – Elaine Tyler May
The Mulberry Bird: An Adoption Story - Anne Braff Brodzinsky and Diana L. Stanley
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew – Sherrie Eldridge
Pregnant? Adoption is an Option – Jeanne Warren Lindsay
The Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students – Dorrie Williams-Wheeler
The Care of the Mother Grieving a Baby Relinquished for Adoption – Rosemary Mander
The Realities of Adoption – Jerome Smith
Losing Jessica – Robby DeBoer
Adoption Forum – Intimate Discussions Unite the Triad in Healing – Kasey Hamner
The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child - Nancy Verrier
The Lost Daughters of China: Abandoned Girls, Their Journey to America, and the Search for a Missing Past – Karin Evans
Birthmothers: Women Who Have Relinquished Babies for Adoption Tell Their Stories – Merry Bloch Jones
Shared Fate – H. David Kirk
The Secret Life of the Unborn Child – Thomas Verny and John Kelly
Adoption, Identity and Kinship: The Debate Over Sealed Birth Records – Katarina Wegar
Ithaka: A Daughter's Memoir of Being Found – Sarah Saffian
Half a Million Women: Mothers Who Lose Their Children By Adoption – David Howe, Phillida Sawbridge, and Diana Hinings
To Love and Let Go – Suzanne Arms
An Open Adoption – Lincoln Caplan
Twice Born: Memoirs of An Adopted Daughter – Betty Jean Lifton
Dear Birthmother – Kathleen Silber and Phylis Speedlin
The Story of David: How We Created A Family Through Open Adoption – Dion Howells
Ethics in American Adoption – L. Anne Babb
Children of Open Adoption - Kathleen Silber and Patricia Martinez Dorner
The Spirit of Open Adoption – James Gritter
Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe V. Wade – Rickie Solinger
Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M – Phyllis Chesler
Living Mistakes: Mothers Who Consented to Adoption – Kate Inglis
May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey Into the Heart of Adoption – Lynn Franklin
The Adoption Life Cycle – The Children and Their Families Through the Years – Elinor Rosenberg
Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness – Betty Jean Lifton
What Lisa Knew: The Truth and Lies of the Steinberg Case – Joyce Johnson
Don’t Call Her Lisa Steinberg – Michelle Launders
Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother – Jana Wolff
Baby Selling: The Scandal of Black Market Adoptions – Nancy Baker
Family Secrets: A Writer’s Search for His Parents and His Past – David Leitch
Infertility: The Emotional Journey – Michelle Fryer Hanson
How to Open an Adoption: A Guide for Parents and Birthparents of Minors – Patricia Martinez Dorner
Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted – Robert Andersen
A Ghost at Heart’s Edge: Stories and Poems of Adoption – Susan Ito and Tina Cervin, editors
I Wish for You a Beautiful Life – Sara Dorow, editor
A Death in White Bear Lake – Barry Siegel
Sudden Fury: A True Story of Adoption and Murder - Leslie Walker
Giving Away Simone: A Memoir - Jan Waldron
Lifegivers: Framing the Birthparent Experience in Open Adoption – James Gritter

Yes, I’ve read them all. Never let it be said I haven’t approached the idea of adoption from every possible angle!