From the introduction: “Adoption shows up a lot in literature and pop culture. But most of the time, our stories are written by non-adoptees. … The lack of authentic representation—of literature about adoptees, by adoptees—can lead to one-dimensional, even harmful portrayals of adoption and adoptee characters.” This is an essential collection providing important visibility of adoptee voices to young adult readers. The 15 stories span a range of genres, including realistic fiction, fantasy, and science fiction, and will appeal to a variety of reading tastes. Most stories are prose; one is a graphic short story. Some of them address adoption and being a transracial adoptee directly, while some use metaphor or feature plotlines in which adoption is an essential part of the protagonist’s identity but not the plot. What they all speak to in one way or another are the emotional complexities that these young adult adoptees and transracial adoptees navigate, including the sense of loss or feeling of being an outsider that most experience no matter how loving their adoptive families are, as well as the microaggressions and racism that they face in the world and, sometimes, in family spaces that should be safe. All of this unfolds through stories with characters and circumstances that are individual and distinct. (Age 12 and older)