CD Review: Lullabies: For China's Daughters & Their Adoptive Families, by Chuck & Lynette Giacinto (Final Quest)

This isn't an album I would have sought out and bought for myself, but it's one I'm quite glad I now own. Let me try to explain that. This is a collection of quite pretty songs inspired by and dedicated to children adopted from China. Some of it is done very much in the Amy Grant/Christian Contemporary mold. I'm not a big fan of slick production and those new-Broadway/Little Mermaid-style pretty melodies - as far as lullabies go, the ... more

While browsing the adoption forums, I came across a notice about Arthur. If you have a child under 4, you probably already know Arthur, his relentlessly upbeat Ziggy Marley theme song, his gang of animal friends and his occasional nuggets of only-parents-will get this cleverness. Well, now Arthur is doing adoption.

Yep, Arthur's buddy Binky* is getting a baby sister named Mei Lin. There... more

Book Review: Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators in The Mystery of the Green Ghost, by Robert Arthur, illustrations by Harry Kane.

OK, so this was a bit of a peculiar realization I had recently. This book was pretty much the book that made a reader out this humble typist. It was third grade, you see, and our teacher read a bit from a book every day before recess. She got halfway through this one when she suddenly had to transfer to another class, and the replacement teacher didn't do reading time at all. And this was a mystery. One simply *had* to... more

DVD Review: The Painted Veil, dir. John Curran, starring Edward Norton & Naomi Watts.

If you're a fan of W. Somerset Maugham and ever wanted to see what a Chinese orphanage looked like in the 1920s, then this is the film for you. If sweeping vistas of Guangxi's river valleys combined with shallow graves, grisly cholera deaths and misbehavior and redemption among the colonial British expats might put you off, then stay well away.

Edward... more

Book Review: D is for Dragon Dance, by Ying Chang Compestine and Yongsheng Xuan.

Like C is for China (as reviewed previously on here), this book is a Chinese-themed abecedarium, but... more

Book Review: The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong.

This is a book that spills the beans on a process that was a fiercely guarded secret for 3,000 years: where silk comes from.

Young Chinese empress Si Ling-Chi is enjoying a hot cup of tea in her imperial garden while sitting under the imperial mulberry bushes, and a little coccoon falls in her cup. Being one privileged lady,... more

Review: My Mei Mei by Ed Young.

Ed Young is both Chinese born and an American adoptive parent of Chinese children. He's got stacks of Caldecotts.

This book tells the story of how Antonia, his daughter, got her little sister in China. It's a true story, as near as I can tell. We were sort of hoping to sling this... more

I haven't actually read 10 Steps to Successful International Adoption - A Guided Workbook for Prospective Parents by Dr. Brenda K. Ueckert, so I can't actually call this a book review.

I know nothing about the book other than what it says in that press release:

there... more

I haven't actually read this book, so I can't officially call this a "review," but if you're reading this blog, you may or may not be interested in The Chinese Adoption Handbook: How to Adopt from China and Korea, by John Maclean.

It's supposed to be an exhaustive, easy-to-use guide to the daunting process of adopting... more

Is it the hair? It's gotta be the hair.

So, last night we watched Sammo Hung's breakthrough Bruceploitation* satire, Enter the Fat Dragon (1978 , thank you Netflix). And laughed and... more