Allison

Allison was a little Korean girl who one day realized she did not look like her parents. She was adopted and the only person she could relate to was Mei Mei. Her adopted parents, who were white, explained to her how they went to a country far, far away to bring her back and all she had with her was her doll Mei Mei. She became angry with her adopted parents and did disruptive things like cutting up the dolls and toys her adopted parents gave her. One day she found a stray cat and begged to keep her. She wanted to do the same for the cat as her adopted parents did for her. This book was for ages four to eight. The author, Allen Say, communicated the concept of adoption and the feelings children have very well. From text to illustrations every emotion and action was capture. I feel as though his insider knowledge contributed to this great piece of literature. Say’s father was an orphan raised by a British family in Shanghi and Allen separated from his father in late childhood because of a poor relationship they shared. When this happened he went to America and become apart of a new family (http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay/author.shtml). Going through these experiences influenced him to write this book because he knew other children were going through the same thing.
This book does a wonderful in presenting such a mature topic in a context that a young child would understand. Say’s illustrations truly came to life along side the text. The images were very colorful and realistic. They were surely relatable to students who have been adopted and look nothing like their adopted parents. Throughout the book Allison responded just like a normal adopted child. For example, yelling and telling her adopted parents they were not her parents. Also the identification she had with her doll from her country. Usually when young children are having identity problems and fill alone, they attach to something unrealistic or not living such as an imaginary friend or collecting rocks. Overall this book does an excellent job an introducing a family type that is not addressed in the classroom or literature, but is very real and common in our society. I would recommend this book to any parent or teacher trying to introduce the subject of a student with this family type of to students learning about the various types of families.