When I read this delightful book to the third grade at my daughter’s school, we couldn’t decide which we liked more, the story or the gorgeous illustrations!

Based on her own family’s adoption experience, author Adrienne Ehlert Bashista compares her child’s life in Russia with her life in the United States. This beautiful picture book describes the child’s birth mother and her life in the orphanage, blending the child’s before adoption life to life in her adoptive family.

Even though none of the children that shared this book with me is adopted, they all enjoyed learning a little bit about adoption from another country. And they chuckled at my attempts to pronounce the Russian words!

Illustrator Christine Sykes’ breath-taking illustrations complemented the story perfectly. We (my third-graders and I) especially liked the cute, white bear that appeared on almost every page!

If your child, or a child that you know, was adopted from Russia, I’m sure that he or she would treasure his or her very own copy of this book!

Published by DRT Press, When I Met You sells for fewer than 20 dollars.