Looking for Lost Bird - by Yvette Melanson & Claire Safran (Paperback)

About the Book

"Looking For Lost Bird" is the remarkable tale of a Navajo child adopted and raised by an affluent Jewish family who denied her nothing--except any knowledge of her roots and her heritage.

Book Synopsis

In this haunting memoir, Yvette Melanson tells of being raised to believe that she was white and Jewish. At age forty-three, she learned that she was a "Lost Bird," a Navajo child taken against her family's wishes, and that her grieving birth mother had never stopped looking for her until the day she died. In this haunting memoir, Yvette Melanson tells of being raised to believe that she was white and Jewish. At age forty-three, she learned that she was a "Lost Bird," a Navajo child taken against her family's wishes, and that her grieving birth mother had never stopped looking for her until the day she died.

From the Back Cover

In this haunting memoir, Yvette Melanson tells of being raised to believe that she was white and Jewish. At age forty-three, she learned that she was a "Lost Bird", a Navajo child taken against her family's wishes, and that her grieving birth mother had never stopped looking for her until the day she died.

Review Quotes

"This is a surprising and extremely moving book...very well crafted...has the suspense of a novel as it engages us in Melanson's struggles...and keeps us wondering whether her lost twin will ever be found".

-- Booklist

"This memoir of an extraordinary eventful life is crafted like the rugs that Melanson has learned to make in the tradition of her birth family." --- Publishers Weekly"The story of Yvette Melanson is that of an adopted child, loved and raised in a Jewish household, who, when found by her Navajo/Dineh family of origin, packed up her husband and daughters and drove out west to recapture her roots as a "Navajo in training." Her stories of the members of her families -- families from two cultures who had only known each other cliches - is told with much struggle, humor and compassion." --- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, The Gift of Story and The Faithful Gardener"An inspirational story for adoptees, particularly American Indians, seeking to uncover their past." -- Kirkus Reviews"This is a surprising and extremely moving book...very well crafted...has the suspense of a novel as it engages us in Melanson's struggles...and keeps us wondering whether her lost twin will ever be found." --- Booklist