Allen Say writes an interesting story about a young Allison who was adopted and brought to live in another country. She realizes she is different from her parents and questions her life there. Allison encounters a cat outside her window. Allison acquires a need to care for the cat and wants to keep it. The cat brings her and her parents closer together. I like the way the author presented this situation. Especially in the eyes of the young girl being adopted. I especially liked how the author described Allison observing and questioning her peers and their parents and comparing them to herself and her parents. The illustrations were beautiful and showed great expression of how Allison was feeling throughout the story. ( )

I liked this book for several reasons. I liked this book because of how children can connect with the book if they were adopted. But it also gives insight to other children who aren’t adopted about how it feels to be adopted. I enjoyed this book because of the writing, the writing is very powerful in this story. For example, on one page, the girls asks where her doll Mei Mei came from. “where did Mei Mei come from?” Allison asked. “Far, far away, from another country,” Father said. “Mommy and I went there and brought you and Mei Mei home with us” Allison stared. “You`re not my mommy and daddy?” This shows that some children don’t always understand what adoption is. On another page, the child doesn’t fully understand adoption and starts questioning about her parents and if they didn’t want her etc. The writing includes a lot of emotions in it. A couple more pages describes how the little girl starts to destroy things in the house that are important to the parents because she is upset and really hurt. The illustrations show a lot of emotion too. They really convey the meaning of the story. The meaning of the story is that adoption can be difficult for children to understand at first but then something happens and they start to accept it. ( )

This is a great non-fiction story about a girl that realizes she is different from her parents and is not too happy about it at first. When she finds a cat that needs a home she starts to understand that her parents love her no matter where she came from and nothing will ever change that. It could be used to teach empathy, differences in families, and equality. ( )

For this book to be a children's book, there were a few things that didn't make sense. This book has a lot of words. The words are not difficult, but when reading, it takes longer than other picture books. Especially for Children's Literature. The theme was appropriate because a lot of students can relate to Allison and her unique family situation. This book allows readers to understand what it is like to be adopted if they don't know what it is like. ( )

Allison has a doll that looks like her, and soon realizes that she does not look like her mommy and daddy. They try to explain what adoption is and Allison gets angry thinking she does not have a mommy and daddy. She befriends a cat and wants to keep him. Through the help of the cat, Allison learns to accept being adopted. ( )