Book reading at Birchbark in Minneapolis: Review in Star-Tribune

Posted on May 26, 2011 by

This past Sunday the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ran a mostly glowing, and in part constructively critical, review of Between Light and Shadow. I think that Lynette Lamb’s assessment was fair, and I’m grateful that my book was featured in Minnesota’s premier newspaper. I’m also excited that tonight at 7 p.m. at Birchbark Books (just west of Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis) I’ll hold a presentation and reading. Birchbark is owned by the well-known Native American author Louise Erdrich, and Minnesota is one of two states (along with Texas) that boasts the most adoptive parents of Guatemalan children.

Here’s the rest of the review in the Star-Tribune:

Fascinating story of adoption reunion raises questions

In the 1990s and 2000s, Guatemala was one of the biggest sources of international adoptions. In 2007, the Central American country of 13 million sent nearly 5,000 of its children to be adopted by U.S. families, 1 percent of all babies born there that year. Continue reading →

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Chicago in the books: Traverse City up next

Posted on May 15, 2011 by

Thanks to my buddy Richard Taber (with whom I started the Glen Arbor Sun newspaper in northwest-lower Michigan back in 1996) , we have photos of my book reading and signing at Women & Children First in Chicago late last month. The event was a great success. About 25 of our Windy City friends, and at least one adoptive parent of a Guatemalan child, filled the cozy bookstore and packed the 90 minute time slot we had with great questions and discussion following my reading. Kudos to Leah Doe Simkins for hosting a delicious wine and cheese reception just around the corner from the bookstore.

For those of you in or near Traverse City, Michigan — please join us for a book reading at Horizon Books on Front Street, this Saturday, May 21, from 5-7 p.m. This event will be particularly special because the book’s main character, Eleanor Patricia Berenice Ortiz, aka “Ellie” Walters, will attend along with her adoptive mother Judy Barrett. Saturday’s reading promises to be an emotional and thought-provoking celebration.

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Book Review in Northern Express (Traverse City, Michigan)

Posted on April 21, 2011 by

Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli wrote this compelling review of Between Light and Shadow in the Northern Express, the alternative-weekly in Traverse City, Michigan. This is the first review of my book that I’ve read. Suffice to say, I was nervous at first …

Adoption, Guatemalan Style

By Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

Jacob Wheeler may be too honest. He may be too perplexed by a heartbreaking reality. He may be so torn by the state of Guatemalan adoption that he can’t morally bring himself to make a definitive statement. All of that and more is evident in his book, “Between Light and Shadow: A Guatemalan Girl’s Journey through Adoption.”

From wanting to applaud American couples saving children from poverty and early death to decrying the loss of a country’s babies, it is evident that Wheeler is torn. Continue reading →

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Telling both sides of the international adoption story: Essay for Children’s Home Society & Family Services

Posted on April 1, 2011 by

Children’s Home Society & Family Services asked me to write this “craft essay” about my book, Between Light and Shadow — why I wrote it, what my connection is to adoption (or in this case, Guatemala), and what I hope readers will take away. I was honored to write this, and the reflection helped me re-channel my time in Guatemala — and the genesis of the idea for this project. Not to mention the fact that this essay for Children’s Home Society will now help me connect with many more adoptive parents, who I hope will find Between Light and Shadow thought-provoking, if not inspiring.

Here’s the craft essay:

In 2005, while improving my Spanish at a language school in Quetzaltenango, in Guatemala’s western highlands, I found myself falling head over heels in love with that country, its mountains and lakes, its people, their languages and indigenous cultures. The writer, and activist, in me felt drawn in too by Guatemala’s narrative — that of a tragic and bloody modern history, and complicated relationship with my home, the United States. Continue reading →

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Upcoming reading/signing, April 29 at “Women and Children First” in Chicago’s Andersonville Neighborhood

Posted on March 19, 2011 by

I’m thrilled to announce that my first book reading/signing of Between Light and Shadow, which is officially out April 1, but which may already be on its way to you if you ordered from the University of Nebraska Press or from Amazon.com, will be at the wonderful feminist bookstore, Women & Children First in Chicago’s northside Andersonville neighborhood. The reading/signing will be Friday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. I currently live in Minneapolis, but after spending the last four years of my life in the Windy City — and writing/editing for publications including In These Times and Mindful Metropolis, and teaching part time at Columbia College, much of my heart will always be in “Sweet Home Chicago”. So this is great news.

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Book Reading and Signing, Saturday May 21, in Traverse City, Michigan

Posted on March 18, 2011 by

Earlier this week I received a welcome surprise in the mail. Amidst a frantic month of covering workers rights demonstration in Madison, Wisconsin, for TheUpTake.org, I had almost forgotten that Between Light and Shadow was on the verge of being released. And there suddenly was a box from the University of Nebraska Press with 10 hardcover copies inside.

Today I confirmed with Jill Beauchamp at Horizon Books in Traverse City, Michigan — where much of Between Light and Shadow takes place — that we’ll hold a book reading and signing on Saturday, May 21, from 5-7 p.m. Horizon is a fantastic bookstore and community resource, located in the revitalized downtown, right next to the State Theatre. This is the weekend before Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer in northwest-lower Michigan. Let the crowds come. I can’t wait! (I’m also working toward booking readings in Minneapolis, Chicago, my hometown of Glen Arbor, Michigan (in August), and perhaps Madison and Ann Arbor too. Stay tuned.

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“Between Light and Shadow” set for April 1 birth

Posted on February 6, 2011 by

I’m overjoyed that nearly five years after I wrote this book, Between Light and Shadow: A Guatemalan Girl’s Journey Through Adoption will be published by the University of Nebraska Press. A release date is set for April. 1: you can order here.

Here are the University of Nebraska’s words to describe the book:

“In Between Light and Shadow veteran journalist Jacob Wheeler puts a human face on the Guatemalan adoption industry, which has exploited, embraced, and sincerely sought to improve the lives of the Central American nation’s poorest children. Fourteen-year-old Ellie, abandoned at age seven and adopted by a middle-class family from Michigan, is at the center of this story. Wheeler re-creates the painful circumstances of Ellie’s abandonment, her adoption and Americanization, her search for her birth mother, and her joyous and haunting return to Guatemala, where she finds her teenage brothers—unleashing a bond that transcends language and national borders. Continue reading →

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