The Family Nobody Wanted

Helen Doss

Northeastern University Press, Oct 18, 2001 - Biography & Autobiography - 274 pages

Doss's charming, touching, and at times hilarious chronicle tells how each of the children, representing white, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Mexican, and Native American backgrounds, came to her and husband Carl, a Methodist minister. She writes of the way the "unwanted" feeling was erased with devoted love and understanding and how the children united into one happy family. Her account reads like a novel, with scenes of hard times and triumphs described in vivid prose. The Family Nobody Wanted, which inspired two films, opened doors for other adoptive families and was a popular favorite among parents, young adults, and children for more than thirty years. Now this edition will introduce the classic to a new generation of readers. An epilogue by Helen Doss that updates the family's progress since 1954 will delight the book's loyal legion of fans around the world.

About the author

Helen Doss has been a writer and an internationally known advocate for adoptive families for more than fifty years. She has published numerous articles in such national periodicals as American Girl and Reader's Digest, and is the author of thirteen books, including All the Children of the World and Really Real Family and the coauthor (with Carl Doss) of If You Adopt a Child. She lives with her husband Roger Reed in Yuba City, California. Mary Battenfeld is Associate Professor of Humanities at Wheelock College. She is the author of several articles on teaching and multicultural literature, and the mother of two children adopted from India. She lives in the Boston area.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Family Nobody Wanted
• Author: Helen Doss
• Contributor: Mary Battenfeld
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Northeastern University Press, 2001
• ISBN: 155553502X, 9781555535025
• Length: 274 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Family & Relationships / Parenting / General; Social Science / Sociology / General