Adopted - Me?: So Who Do I Think I Am?

Publisher Marketing: At the age of 43, during my divorce and a child custody battle, I found out I had been adopted. Shock and disbelief changed to a gradual urge to seek out my natural parents. Years later, I eventually found my mother "hidden in a fairy-tale castle in the forest." That's what it seemed at the time. This then led to a sister, three brothers, a father, and an even larger family of cousins and their offspring. The next thirty years were a mixture of joy, relief, happiness, and fun whilst forging a new life for myself. Later, I experienced sadness, despair, and tragedy whilst helping to alleviate my birth mother's mental illness and caring for and losing four parents. I uncovered a dramatic 1930's love affair and 700 years of family genealogy with high-ranking seventeenth-century offi cials from the Church of England. I also discovered more about my birth father, a World War II RAF fighter pilot who nearly ended up being shot, escaping from Stalag Luft III, who owned a leading sock manufacturing company in the United Kingdom, run by the family since 1882. On the family tree, I found Victor Borge, the famous concert pianist and stand-up comedian. Finding my new family has been a very happy, rewarding, and interesting part of my life. Contributor Bio:  Thompson, John John Thompson is a professor of illustration at Syracuse University. His first children's book, Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick L. McKissack, received numerous awards, including the Coretta Scott King Award. His other books include O Jerusalem: Voices of a Scared City by Jane Yolen, which earned several starred reviews, and the ALA Notable Book Freedom Like Sunlight by J. Patrick Lewis. Mr. Thompson lives with his family in Syracuse, New York.