Three Names of Me

by Mary Cummings

Book Overview

Ada has three names. Wang Bin is what the caregivers called her at her Chinese orphanage. Ada is the name her American parents gave her. And there is a third name, a name the infant Ada only heard... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807579033
• ISBN13: 9780807579039
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.4" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 6 to 9 years
• Grade Range: Grades 1 to 4

Customer Reviews

A great book

We purchased this book along with several others that address Asian adoption. We have kept this one back to give to our daughter when she is a bit older and can grasp the concept of adoption better. Until then, we are using books geared more toward toddlers and early elementary school aged children.

Like a work of art...

This book is lyrical in its beauty - telling the story of a young Chinese adoptee in powerful but spare words and beautiful artwork. Might be best for the 9 and up group - my eight-year-old is not emotionally mature enough for this book yet, but I can tell it will be important later on.

Great Book for Appropriate Time

This book was very appropriate for our family. My daughter is 7 years old, and I adopted her from China when she was 10 months. She is very curious about her origins, including her birth mom. This book directly addresses the fact that in addition to a Chinese name and, in many cases, a newly given name when adopted, you also have a third name which was "whispered" by your birth mom. So my only caveat would be to read this book before reading it with your child to be sure that you are both ready to deal with the questions and emotions that are surely to follow.

Three Names of Me - Beautifully Illustrated - Beautiful Story

My daughter, age 7, was completely entranced by this book and then suddenly she said, "Mom! This girl is just like me! Except I don't play soccer. "Three Names of Me is a gorgeous book that fills us with a sense of China-home and instills such hope and love for the future. It would be quite impossible to convince my daughter this book wasn't intended solely for her. Especially after reading Ada's symbol for her first name; the one beyond "her remembering" - Ada chose a beautiful red star. My daughter's middle name is Mei-Xing, which means beautiful star. Mei-Xing is certain Three Names of Me was written just for her. It is her new prized possession.

Three Names of Me - An Empowering Adoption Story

My seven-year-old daughter(whose orphanage-given name was Shuang Ying Chao) was immediately drawn into Ada's empowering adoption story and its rich, evocative illustrations. At this age, many children become fascinated by the circumstances surrounding their adoption, along with the characteristics of their birth country and its people. Mary Cummings frames these sensitive issues in the context of her daughter Ada's three names - the first given her at birth, the second by her orphanage, and the third by her adoptive parents. Readers are transported to distant China, where they see where and how she received each name. Both adoptive children and their parents are invited to accompany Ada on her remarkable adoption journey. Ada's scrapbooking examples at the end of the book inspired my daughter to begin compiling all of the photos and memorabilia from both China and America, as a way of acknowledging and celebrating all aspects of her identity. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!