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When my husband and I were in the
process of adopting our youngest son, Jamie, in 2004, from Russia, I
looked high and low for a book to read to my older child, Jacob, that
would explain what we were going through. I found books about adoption
from China, books about domestic adoption, and books about adoption
from beautiful tropical places. I found books about adopting transracially,
and books about adopting from foster care. I found books telling kids
it was okay to be adopted, and books that celebrated adoption day, and
books about non-traditional families. But nowhere could I find a book
about adopting from Russia.
So I decided to create one.
When I Met You: A Story of Russian Adoption, was the book that came out of that initial impulse. Funnily enough, once Jamie came to our family I realized that it wasn't his brother who needed a book about adoption from Russia, but it was Jamie! Jamie, and the tens of thousands of other children adopted from Russia and other former Soviet countries needed a book that honored their experience and which spoke directly to them.
When I Met You has been received very well in the adoption community, and it was only natural that two years later a second book, Mishka: An Adoption Tale, followed. Where the first book is a "lap book" - one you read to the child in your lap - Mishka is a real story, complete with a bottom-heavy bear as its main character, and a plotline that follows the stages of a typical EE adoption.
So - what's next for my little indy press? Several new exciting projects! Starting this summer, I've expanded my focus a bit! In summer, 2008 our first activities book, The Big Fun Guide to Tar Heel Country, will be published. My friend Erin Donaghue Baldwin, a Chapel Hill native, wrote it for families who are looking for things to do in our little slice of heaven. After that, it's back to adoption books with 2 wonderful books for kids - both which should come out in 2009.
I hope you're here because you've enjoyed what I've had to offer! Stay tuned for more from DRT Press over the next few years. My company may be tiny, but I've got big dreams.
Your friend, Adrienne Ehlert Bashista