First published 2011
Melissa Fay Greene and her husband started with four biological children. They loved parenting so much they decided to keep going. When their biological clock wound down, they adopted five more children from Bulgaria, Ethiopia, and other countries. Greene finds herself managing a household of nine kids speaking multiple languages. Fisseha rides his bike down basement stairs. A squirrel perches on Jesse's head while he sits on the porch. Four teenage boys who barely speak English research "saxing" on her computer. Greene initially thinks they want to switch from trombone to saxophone, then realizes they cannot spell. Vulgar posters appear on bedroom walls. The Amharic insult "niftam" meaning snot triggers fistfights between siblings. Greene applies her journalist training to decode the chaos of her own home. She documents the daily disasters and unexpected joys of raising children from different cultures and backgrounds. The family navigates between catastrophe and happiness as they build something entirely new together.
Genres: family, family-life, non-fiction, adoption
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Bulgaria, Ethiopia
Period: 21st-century
368 pages · Kindle Edition · Sarah Crichton Books