A Mother for Choco by Keiko Kasza

This is my first post in a series of posts about adoption themed children's books. If you would like to know more about why I am writing about this topic, go here.

I am starting with A Mother for Choco because I think it is a great starter book when it comes to adoption themed children's books. My copy is a board book so it's perfect for toddler age.

This is a story about a small bird named Choco who is looking for a mother. He begins asking animals that have a physical similarity to him if they could be his mother. Like a giraffe because she is yellow, a penguin because she has wings, a walrus because she has round cheeks. He is sad because he can't find a mother and eventually he runs into Mrs. Bear who does motherly things and makes him feel better. When she asks if she can be his mother, he is surprised because she does not look at all like him.

She invites him to come home with her for some apple pie and to meet her other children. When he arrives, he sees that her children are an alligator, hippo, and pig. They all play together and have apple pie. In the end he says he is happy his mother looks just the way she does.

A Mother for Choco is an adoption themed children's book that does not use the word adoption. Although when I read it to the children I work with, an 8 year old said, "She adopted them!" after seeing the picture of Mrs. Bear's other children.