Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits – Book Review

This book, published in 2001, was one of the first books in adoption literature that speaks directly to the multicultural family and still remains to be one of the leading books on this topic today. The author of this boo, Myra Alperson, draws from her own experience of adopting her daughter Sadie ZhenZhen Alperson from China in addition to extensive research and input from other multicultural families.

As the title states, “Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits” can be used as a sourcebook for families that offers advice on shaping a household that includes more than one culture. While Alperson’s experience only involves the Chinese-American cultures, this book provides statements from other adoptive parents of different cultures. It is because of this that “Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits” can be used by any individual with any combination of cultures in his or her home.

This book not only addresses the different ways a family can incorporate different cultures into the home, but it also discusses why it is so important to do so. From the very beginning pages of this book, Alperson points out that the differences in culture between adoptive parents and their child is just too large and significant to ignore. Because of this, adoptive parents must take steps to ensure that their child’s identity represents not only the culture of their family and the society in which they live, but also the culture of where they are from.

This books poses the differentiation between transracial adoption and multicultural adoption. In the realm of adoption literature, there is an overwhelming amount on resources on the former. For multicultural adoption, however, there are very few resources.

This book is an important, but easy, read for anyone who traversing the journey of adoption and for anyone who has adopted multiculturally. IF you are interested in reading “Dim Sum, Bagels, and Grits“, you can order it on Tapestry Books!