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Summary: Can't Wait for Katy's Next Book!
Review:
This book took me by surprise. I'm not sure why I bought it and then i couldn't put it down. This is a good read for anyone, adopted or not.
Speaking as a domestic adoptee, it felt like the author was reading my mind and heart--and able to articulate what sometimes gets stuck inside. Katy Robinson is incredibly honest and insightful.
Do yourself a favor and buy this book. If you are an adoptive parent then this book is required reading, but it won't feel like it. Reading it will help you to understand your child's experience on a whole new level.
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Summary: A Great Classroom Resource
Review: "A Single Square Picture" by Katy Robinson is wonderful memoir.
Ms. Robinson shares her story of adoption and her return to Korea to find and possibly establish a relationship with her biological father as well as to search for her birth mother.
This story is a great experience for any reader, young or old. As a classroom teacher, I have found it a great way to guide my students to an understanding of different cultures, families, and more importantly, themselves. Each student seems to have taken part of the story and identified with it. What a gift!
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Summary: Spirit
Review: ... I like memoirs very much and this book will be one of my treasures.
The story is about a very young girl who exibited an amazing amount of courage and spirit. I have laughed and cried reading about her journey to America and back to Korea. I also admired anyone who can use words well. This is a great example of that.
I look forward to more stories by Katy Robinson.
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Summary: Fascinating journey....
Review: A book about a Korean adoptee growing up in Utah seemed to me to be the last thing that a Southern Californian would enjoy. I was very wrong. Ms. Robinson takes us along on her fascinating journey to find her roots and we truly feel as if we were right there with her. We share in her excitements as well as her despare. We are embroiled in mysteries and childhood fantasies. And our hearts race with anticipations and break with disappointments as doors are opened and then slammed shut. All the while we are introduced to an ancient and proud culture that is Korea. We also learn what it is like to be uprooted as a seven year old girl from the warm and loving arms of a mother and grandmother and whisked away to a society that could not be more diffent than her own. To be a little Korean girl raised in Utah had to have been very difficult. Ms Robinson delivers this story with the skill of the accomplished journalist which she is. She is able to bring us along with her and allow us to see what she sees through our own eyes. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good book.
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Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: As a woman who gave up her daughter for adoption I was very touched by Katy's search for her family. I was especially touched by the fellow students who had mixed reactions from their birth families to their search. Katy sought out her parents, but many children simply accept their new lives and have no interest in finding "family ties". I am very grateful to Katy for writing such a warm and honest book. I attempted to locate my daughter when she was 21 (I felt I owed her until then before I made the effort). After finding her I was shocked to hear her say "I would have never looked for you"... eleven years later we have a relationship that at least allows me to see her at times. I really hope that some day Katy will find that her mother is still alive. It is no less painful for the mother and grandmother as it is/was for the child.
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Summary: a turbulent ride
Review: I am not a Korean adoptee, although many times during my childhood I wished I were. After reading a few memoirs by Korean adoptees, I'm kind of glad that I wasn't. Better to have suffered with "blood" relations than with "strangers", I guess. When I first heard of Mrs. Robinson's book, I thought, "another Korean adoptee's story..." but I'm clearly finding out that every adoptee has their own unique story. Not only was Katy's life unique, it was more exciting than any recent mystery/thriller I've seen or read. You won't believe what Mrs. Robinson had to go through and deal with in trying to find the truth of her Korean past. It really angered and saddened me how her own blood relatives were hemming and hawing with her when all Katy wanted to know was what happened to her mother and grandmother. A big part of the problem is that Korean society focuses on "ki-bun," to the unfortunate exclusion of being truthful and honest and admitting that no one can be perfect. No wonder she almost lost her eyesight while in Korea, because the emotional twists and turns were just too much for her to handle. This book had me in suspense all the way to the end. I also have to comment on Katy's first book. She is a really gifted writer. I usually don't like to read descriptions, but Katy's writing held my rapt attention, especially when she described all the Korean delicacies! Even though Katy left Korea as a child, her descriptions of Korean food were amazingly accurate, not to mention mouth-watering!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but liked some others more....
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It is excellently well-written, flows beautifully, and contains a wealth of information about Korea, the feelings of adoptees from Korea, and the coming to terms with finding one's place when caught between two cultures. I feel so much more equipped to share knowledge of modern-day Korea with my Korean-born son who is so totally American right down to his cargo pants, Nelly tapes, and Nintendo! I applaud the author for capturing her feelings so well and putting them into a memoir which touches the reader so completely. I hope she'll write another book if she decides to continue the search for her mother.
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Summary: Excellent for Adoptees and Adoptive Parents and Anyone Else
Review: I couldn't put this book down. It is excellently well-written, flows beautifully, and contains a wealth of information about Korea, the feelings of adoptees from Korea, and the coming to terms with finding one's place when caught between two cultures. I feel so much more equipped to share knowledge of modern-day Korea with my Korean-born son who is so totally American right down to his cargo pants, Nelly tapes, and Nintendo! I applaud the author for capturing her feelings so well and putting them into a memoir which touches the reader so completely. I hope she'll write another book if she decides to continue the search for her mother.
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Summary: Engrossing
Review: I found this account of Ms.Robinson returning to Korea to find her family engrossing. It was like a mystery novel, with turns and twists that you don't expect. From the aspect of an adoptive parent myself, it gave me new insights on how to handle my adopted child and a better understanding of the need to return to find their roots.
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Summary: Good book but liked some others more....
Review: I have read several books recently on adoption and in reuniting with their heritages: Helie Lee
Still Life with Rice
In the Absence of Sun Cindy Champnella
The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Love of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another I enjoyed all these books immensely and hoped Katy Robinson's "A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee's Search for Her Roots" would be as enjoyable. Altho I found this book to be engrossing and a real page-turner, I was disappointed by how it ended. I will not go into details as not to ruin the ending for other readers, but I enjoy books that tie up loose ends and answer some questions brought up. I hope there is a follow-up to this novel.
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