Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written with Exquisite Illustrations
Review: "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" became an instant favorite in our house from the moment we opened it. My 6-year-old daughter, adopted from China, has not expressed a lot of interest in hearing her adoption story-- until we brought home this book. The sweet story and delightful illustrations have made it easier for her to understand her story and we read it together several times a week. It's also a great book to peruse by myself when I want to reflect on the experience of adopting from China. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Essential for every adopted child's library
Review: A beautiful book; strong loving feelings are projected from the mother to her daughter. The positives of adoption are explained with empathy for the child's situation. Children reading this will feel proud of their origins, whilst feeling safe and secure in the care and love of their parents. Beautiful illustrations reflect the texts message of love and bonding between mother and daughter.
Rating: 
Summary: This book makes me sad.
Review: A new child to most parents is always a joyous occasion (or at least it should). This is especially true to parents who adopt (I am speaking from experience). However, the illustrations in this book depict nothing but sadness. All the characters look as if there is some deep sadness lingering inside. No one smiles... no one celebrates. The words are slightly more joyous than the images, but as they say, "a picture paints a thousand words."
The other sad aspect of this story is that there is no adoptive father. I know that a dad doesn't have to be present to make an adoption legal, but it leads to a sad life for the child if there isn't a dad. Dads are very important, and this book downplays the importance of that role.
The book as a whole is very sad.
Rating:
Summary: A special story for special children
Review: As a single adoptive mom of a baby girl from Russia, I've struggled to find a book appropriate for our unique family of two. Most of the international adoption books are geared to two- parent families who adopt because of fertility issues. For me, adoption was the way I chose to make my family. The book handles a sensitive subject in an age appropriate way. The illustrations are gorgeous and it will help me talk with my daughter when she's old enough to understand how special she is.
Rating:
Summary: I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
Review: As is made clear in the dedication to her daughter Alexandra Mae-Ming Lewis this is Rose Lewis' own story and every word rings true. Beginning, "Once upon a time in China there was a baby girl who lived in a big room with lots of other babies." Rose Lewis writes a love letter to her newly adopted child. She tells the story of how two people in need came together to help each other. She assures her daughter that while in China though she was well cared for and that she had friends, she needed a mother. For her sake Rose, who was in America, "also had many friends [she] was missing something too-a baby." Rose wrote to "officials in China and asked if [she] could adopt one the babies who lived in the big room. "At each step in the process Rose Lewis makes clear that her daughter was valued by all parties and that their happy ending as a family was the result of everyone wishing the best for her daughter. Finally Rose Lewis ends their story telling her daughter that the first time they were alone together in their American home Rose cried, "for your Chinese mother, who could not keep you. I wanted her to know that we would always remember her. And I hoped somehow she knew you were safe and happy in the world. Jane Dyer's realistic watercolor illustrations perfectly complement the text. I have no doubt this will be read to babies though the text is appropriate for readers from five-to-eight.
Rating:
Summary: Loving, joyful adoption story - highly recommended
Review: As the adoptive mom of a six year old adopted from China almost five years ago, I have been looking for a book to share with my daughter that could evoke the feelings we have about her special place in our lives. This comes very close. The story of this adoption journey to China rings true -- it is based on the author's own experience. Lewis' text is loving and joyful --tinged with the longing and sadness that is often part of adoptions. An essential element of this book and one that I especially appreciate is the author's mention of her feelings for her daughter's Chinese mother. We have read and re-read "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" at our house and it has sparked very necessary and important discussions with our daughter. Dyer's lovely watercolor illustrations are charming --and add to the warm loving tone of the story - it's just wonderful!
Rating:
Summary: Heart Warming, Beautifully Illustrated
Review: I am just now beginning the long process of adopting a child from abroad. It will most likely take 1-2 years, and this book will help keep me going when I lose faith.It is a treasure of a book both for people considering international adoption, and also for those looking at domestic adoption as well. A simple and touching story that tells about the joy all parents feel when meeting their children for the first time...be it through birth or adoption. This was a truly heartwarming story. Short and easy to read, it's destined to become a bedtime classic. The illustrations are lovely and dreamy...as a storybook should be. All in all, a excellent excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: A rose for Rose
Review: I didn't care what was inside this book. I had already fallen in love with its cover! And then more joy upon looking at the adorable illustrations and the author's simple, loving words describing her journey to China and picking up her baby girl. This is a book with few pages but volumes of enchantment and love. I am an adoptive mother, and our little girl was 4 days young when we brought her into our house. I felt the same joy Rose Lewis expressed. I especially liked Lewis's feelings for the Chinese mother who could not keep her baby. I too cried tears for our unknown birthmother and like Lewis hoped that somehow the grieving mother knew her child was safe. Even though Lewis described her love for a Chines baby, her book speaks equally well to anyone who adopts a baby anywhere in the world. I wish her book had been available when our little girl grew up. Gisela Gasper Fitzgerald, author of ADOPTION: An Open, Semi-Open or Closed Practice?
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I enjoyed this book, but think that it is especially appropriate for single adoptive women. The adoptive mother is mentioned, but not an adoptive father or adoptive partner. The book is adorable, no matter what the adoptive parental situation is, but if you are a single adoptive mom, you MUST get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good For Single Adoptive Mothers
Review: I enjoyed this book, but think that it is especially appropriate for single adoptive women. The adoptive mother is mentioned, but not an adoptive father or adoptive partner. The book is adorable, no matter what the adoptive parental situation is, but if you are a single adoptive mom, you MUST get this book.
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