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Still thinking about this book. The title actually made me gasp aloud. It makes me very sad & angry to think of adoptees or kids in foster care who might encounter/be harmed by it.
from a (rave) trade review: "Each longs to be adopted, but would-be parents reject them when they see the kids’ atypical attributes: Lotta’s 12 fingers, Egg’s East Asian ancestry (other characters default to white), Fenna’s muteness, clumsy Sem’s ears, and Milou’s wild ferocity."
even if I, an adoptee, was tempted to try to "reclaim" a word as harmful as "unadoptable" to try to seem funny or clever, I wouldn't try! because I know it has already and will hurt plenty of kids in real, tangible ways.
and having kids be considered (yes, even by a villain or other clearly coded "bad people") "unadoptable" because they are disabled (??), or Asian (??)—really, no one questioned this?
millions of people have been impacted by #fostercare & #adoption, yet there's so little awareness about how to write our stories with respect & care. listen to & publish more adoptees, publish #ownvoices, please don't give THE UNADOPTABLES to adopted kids. https://twitter.com/tajmccoywrites/status/1288857489581068294
thx for bearing with me; I'm going to continue to add threads & comments from other #adoptees and those who were in #fostercare. Please read this thread: https://twitter.com/mattbhartman/status/1288902898340917248
the term "unadoptable" has hurt and continues to hurt a lot of people; it really did not have to be a book title https://twitter.com/MsVLarsson/status/1288847522925076481
Cannot get over the choices made here re: a book for CHILDREN. Do people even realize just how many kids are #adopted, in #fostercare, and/or are not able to live with their birth parents? It's a pretty huge group to just decide not to think or care about. https://twitter.com/robinwasley/status/1288906365042397186
My heart hurts thinking about the adopted kids who'll receive this book bc someone thinks they'll "relate," the kids who'll happen across it at a library, the kids who'll get taunted *because* of this book(yes: #adoptees still get called "unwanted" & all manner of other things).
I hope #adopteetwitter keeps speaking out about this, and I also hope that adoptive parents who care & see the problems here back us up. https://twitter.com/chenqiaoling/status/1288716469673525248
thank you @evergreenqveen for sharing your experience with #fostercare & #adoption and talking about the direct harm caused by the term "unadoptable" (which does not belong on the cover of a book for kids). I hope many people pause and reflect. <3 https://twitter.com/evergreenqveen/status/1289004094145822727
an important point from a birth parent about the harm this title will cause. thank you so much for sharing your perspective, @FaylitaHicks: https://twitter.com/FaylitaHicks/status/1288980570110926848?s=19
