Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born

Title: Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born

Author: Jamie Lee Curtis

Illustrator: Laura Cornell

Picture Book

     I remember receiving this book as a present when I was little and it instantly became one of my favorites.  When my family adopted my baby brother someone gave me this book, and most likely in jealousy of all the attention the new baby was getting I clung to this book and thought the story was all mine to tell.  This is a cute little story about and from the point of view of a young girl who was adopted.  She loves hearing her parents tell her the whole story with all the details about the night she was born and taken home in their care.  To me at the time I first read it, I realized that adoption wasn't all too common but it also did not seem strange to my family.  Even more so looking back now, I realize how great this story can be for kids who are adopted as well as others to understand the simplicity of the situation and how great it can be.  

     Laura Cornell is one of my favorite children's book illustrators.  Her pictures are beautiful and tell a story of their own.  Each page is an adventure.  The text is simple to be read aloud, but the pictures allow the reader and especially young children to see the complete story at the same time.  There is so much color and detail, and I think this is one of the reasons why I loved her books as a kid because you could spend a while on each page taking in all the little things in background.  Each face's expression and little detail aid in telling the story.