The Goings on and Work of Sam Mahlstadt

This past week, I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of Kevin Hendrick’s book, Addition by Adoption: Kids, Causes & 140 Characters. It is a story about parenting and the adoption process told primarily through a Twitter feed. The 140-character bursts of story and character development were surprisingly engaging, and very easy to follow. I expected a bit of disjointed writing, but was pleasantly surprised at the fluidity of the story.

I am familiar to Twitter, so the format seemed to work well, although I am sure the book would be enjoyable to those unfamiliar with Twitter as well. It was the first I had seen of anything like this, so I was fascinated as I read the story woven through a Twitter stream.

Hendricks uses plenty of humor as he tells stories of potty training, slightly less than ordinary breakfast routines and the beginning of a new era as his new son, Milo, enters the family. On top of that, Lexi,  the daughter and star of the book, provides bits of hilarity the entire way through.

While the book is full of Kid’s Say the Darnedest Things humor, you also witness a family  processing the gravity of adding a son and brother from across the globe to their family. Along with working through the process of addition by adoption, the family champions the cause of global poverty relief, specific to that of water in southern Ethiopia, where Milo was born.

The desire to provide assistance to the people of Ethiopia is clear in the book, but perhaps the greatest indication of the family’s humanitarianism is the goal to build a well in Ethiopia through charity: water with the book’s proceeds.

The book was a great read, and was as inspiring as it was funny. You may zip through the pages quickly, but the spirit of the Hendricks family will stay with you well after you put down the book.

You can pick up the book on Amazon (affiliate link) here or give toward the water campaign here. You can also purchase an “Awesome Edition” which come autographed with $12 being donated for water, 10 copy multipack with $20 donated for water or donate $1,000 and have the author shave his head. All of these alternative options can be found here.

For more perspective on the book, here are a couple reviews and a Q&A from other bloggers I admire a great deal:

• Sam Duregger’s review
• Church Crunch’s review  by Adam Shields
• Justin Wise’s Q&A
• More reviews and press on the book’s site, here