... and Baby Makes Two Page 30
READING GROUP QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
The book begins with the image of a Christ Child who awakens a baby hunger in Jane. How does this image change as it recurs in the book? Have you ever experienced a similar encounter? Have other people's children made you want to have children or scared you away from having children of your own?
Jane often thinks in terms of lists. What is the significance of the lists, and how do they change through the book? Do you depend on lists in your life?
Ray undergoes a series of changes throughout the book. Why? How does he complement Jane?
How do you think Betty would have responded to Jane's decision to adopt a child from China? Do you think she would have reconciled with Sheila in time?
What kind of mother will Jane be? What will Karen and Teresa be like? Do you think that the three mother characters can maintain a friendship?
How do you feel about the fact that Jane and Peter are together at the end of the story?
Have you considered adoption? Why did you decide to or not to adopt?
Beth asks Judy in the interview portion of this reading group guide why she had Howard overreact to the adoption. Did you agree that Howard overreacted? How do you think you would react if one of your children or friends revealed that they were adopting a baby from another country either as a single parent or otherwise?
Did you relate to Jane's sudden desire to have a child? Did you experience a similar sensation yourself?
Do you have friends or family members that do not have children by choice? What factors have gone into their decisions to not have children? How do their decisions and experiences differ from Jane's and what do you think made them choose the opposite path from Jane?
If you are not a single parent, would you have made the same choice as Jane—to adopt a child on her own? Or is having children something you would only do with a partner?
If you are a single parent, do you think you responded to the themes in this book in a more or less different way than the other members of your group who are not single parents?
Adoption Resources
Books
Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America by Adam Pertman. Pertman writes as both a reporter and an adoptive father to create a comprehensive look at adoption in America.
Are Those Kids Yours?: American Families with Children Adopted from Other Countries by Cheri Register. An adoptive single mother of two Korean kids explores daily life as well as the bigger questions that surround her transracial family.
A Love Like No Other edited by Pamela Kruger and Jill Smolowe. Twenty adoptive parents share their experiences.
Magazines
Adoptive Families: www.adoptivefamilies.com. The award-winning national adoption magazine is the leading information source for families before, during, and after adoption.
Mei: www.meimagazine.com. A bimonthly publication for and about adopted kids, with a special emphasis on Chinese adoptees.
Online Resouces
Families With Children from China: www.fwcc.org. FCC is a non-denominational organization of families who have adopted children from China. The purpose of FCC is to provide a network of support for families who have adopted in China and to provide information to prospective parents. This site consolidates information that has been put together by the families of FCC in order to make it easier for future parents to consider adopting from China. It also tries to provide pointers to other adoption and China-related resources available on the Web.
Note: there are many local chapters of this organization. Use www.fwcc.org/contacts.html to find yours.
Adopting: www.adopting.org. This resource is for anyone touched by adoption. The Web features articles, resources, and online discussions.
Adoption Resources: www.adoptionresources.org offers resources for adoptive parents and birth parents.
JUDY SHEEHANstarted her career as one of the original cast members and creators of the long-running stage hit Tony n’ Tina's Wedding. Currently Sheehan is the playwright-in-residence at New York City's prestigious Looking Glass Theatre, which produces her work every season. Excerpts from her plays have appeared in the popular anthologies Monologues for Women by Women and Even More Monologues for Women by Women. In 2000, Sheehan joined the growing ranks of adoptive parents when she traveled to China to adopt a ten-month-old girl. She and her daughter, Annie, live in New York City. Sheehan is currently working on her second novel, Women in Hats.
… And Baby Makes Two is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living
or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2005 by Judy Sheehan
Reading group guide copyright 2007 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. READER'S CIRCLE and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Sheehan, Judy.
And baby makes two : a novel / Judy Sheehan. p. cm.
eISBN 978-0-307-48150-4
1. Single women—Fiction. 2. Childlessness—Fiction. 3. Greenwich
Village (New York, N.Y)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3619.H439A85 2005
813‘.6—dc22 2005040983
www.thereaderscircle.com
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