Steven's Baseball Mitt by Kathy Stinson

Steven's Baseball Mitt: A Book About Being Adopted, written by Kathy Stinson and illustrated by Robin Baird Lewis, is about a young boy named Steven.  Steven is adopted and the book is about the many different thoughts and feelings he has as a result of that - how sometimes it makes him feel special because his parent's chose him, how sometimes it makes him feel sad because his birth mom gave him up, how he often wonders what his birth mom is like, etc.

After reading the book I couldn't figure out why in the world it was called "Steven's Baseball Mitt".  I could see no correlation between the story and the title.  Some of the illustrations did show a boy searching for something and an illustration near the end showed him finding a baseball glove but there was no mention of the glove in the text of the book.  It made no sense whatsoever, until I read this blurb on the back cover of the book: "The illustrations,depicting Steven's search for his lost baseball mitt, mirror his concern about something missing in himself, or in his life. I never would have made that connection without reading the blurb.

Anna thought the book was okay and it gave us a chance to talk about the process of adoption and how someone might feel.  I think it is a good book to use to help someone who is adopted, or who has a friend that is adopted, so that you can talk about the feelings that adoption may bring up.