McMahon (Chi-Hoon
) and her son, McCarthy, recount their family's real-life transnational adoption of a toddler they named Claire. The book unfolds as McMahon and Conor construct a scrapbook, with each item advancing the story of Claire's adoption: A "card with [a] pretty flower on it" acknowledges that "all our papers have gone to China, and we should be happy"; a wooden ice cream spoon commemorates a family outing in Guangzhou; and several pictures of Claire show her very much at home in America (including one in which she is painting the family dog). The mother narrates, supplemented by diary-like entries by Conor, which appear on each right-hand page in italics. Although generally upbeat about the experience, the prospective brother expresses some authentic-sounding anxieties about the new arrival and his new role ("And what about all this pink frilly stuff?" he says, observing guests cooing over a tutu and other items at a baby shower. "I was hoping for a tree-climbing, hockey-playing sister"). Jerome (If Nathan Were Here
) chronicles each step of the journal with radiant, soft-focus watercolors that possess a palpable sense of physical and emotional space (although the portraits of Claire are at times uneven). The family's optimism and ebullience shines through as they embrace every event—no matter how exotic or bumpy—that has led Claire to become part of their lives. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)
