Vee’s favorite bedtime story is the night she met her parents. When Vee was nine months old, they flew to China to bring her home. But when she struggles to keep up in Chinese dance class and a woman at the grocery store makes Vee feel like she doesn’t belong, her white parents don’t always understand. Vee wants to embrace every part of herself, but it’s hard when it feels like she has to choose. With help from another adoptee, can Vee find a way to celebrate being in between?
“Vee in Between is a touching and honest picture book about transracial adoption and the ways identity can confuse, frustrate, and challenge the children who often feel as if they belong nowhere. Valerie Kaiyang Wood approaches the topic with sensitivity and candour and allows Vee, a little girl who struggles to reconcile her Chinese-ness with her adoptive family, to feel a range of emotions, giving emotional space for the adopted children who will read this.”
“I cannot emphasize enough the ways picture books by and for transracial and transnational adoptees can support adopted youths and illuminate our experiences to those in non-adoption circumstances. With Valerie Kaiyang Wood’s story, Vee in Between, youths will find a nuanced and gentle conversation about some of the many dilemmas they may face throughout their lives but especially in childhood. This book is a valuable conversation starter, continuer, and guide.”
"This picture book details the challenges and confusion that come with adoption in a way that’s touching, sensitive, and educational. While it might be a bit advanced for the two-year-old in your life, it’s never too early to start incorporating important stories like this one into their nighttime routine (and they'll marvel over the gorgeous illustrations)."
"Vee in Between is a touching, beautifully illustrated book that presents a unique, powerful look at adoption and identity that is both engaging and moving. I think this book can make a big difference in personal and educational settings, encouraging empathy, understanding, and appreciation for our diverse, multicultural world. Highly recommended."
In this personal-feeling debut, Kaiyang Wood—drawing from her own experience of transracial adoption—introduces a child protagonist coming to terms with her sense of self.
"Celebrating diversity, fostering empathy, and promoting understanding, Vee in Between is a must-read."
"Told with gentle thoughtfulness and clarity, Wood creates Vee as a memorable heroine and provides a necessary resource for adopted children, adoptive parents, and educators."
"A lovely and moving story of Vee, who is trying to find a space for herself in between all of her identities...This book is important because it shows that families are all beautiful, diverse and unique. It also addresses a gap centring the topic of transracial adoption in a gentle and age-appropriate way."