your guide to health, life,
Wanted: Loving Parents
T
his tuesday,
the sober Capitol Hill portraits of John Adams and Abraham Lincoln will be joined by far younger, sweeter company— photos of 50 foster children from 43 states. These candid portraits are a 10th anniversary exhibit from the Heart Gallery, a nationwide network of groups that enlist professionals to take spirited photographs of foster kids in hopes of finding adoptive homes for them.
4 • October 30, 2011
ok into “When people look the eyes of one of these children,” says Matthew Straeb, president of the Florida Association of Heart Galleries, “we hope they think, ‘She could be my daughter,’ or, ‘He could be my son.’ ” Diane Granito, who founded the country’s first Heart Gallery, credits a 2005 PARADE article with boosting awareness: “It was our big break, and we were able to go national.” To date, thanks to exhibits held in places like airports, malls, and libraries,
HAPPILY EVER AFTER T Top,
Vicky, Vanessa, and Jannae in the photo that touched the Somervilles; inset, Vanessa, Jannae, and Vicky today.
some 5,000 permanent adoptions have occurred. Among the stories featured in PARADE was that of sisters Vanessa, Jannae, and Vicky, who found parents in Drew AY SUND CT PROJE
The N Heart Ga ational llery Exh will trave ibit l to vari
ous locati in the U.S on for Nation . this November s al Adopti on Month To view . and to fin the portraits, d a Heart Gallery near yo nationalh u, go to eartgalle exhibit.org ry
and Melinda Somerville. When the couple— who already had six biological children— went to a Heart Gallery exhibit in Santa Fe, N.M., they were instantly captivated by a photo of the three young girls dressed as fairy princesses. “Something about them spoke to us,” Melinda recalls. “They needed us.” The Somer villes met the sisters that day, the girls moved in six months later, and six months after that, they were legally adopted. Today, Vanessa, now 15, is a freshman in high school; Jannae, 18, has started college; and Vicky, 19, is in a special-ed program. Jannae knows just how lucky they are. “If we hadn’t been adopted, my sisters and I would probably have been split up,” she says. “That would have broken my heart.” —Lynn Schnurnberger
Parade Picks
P Books THE HE MARRIAGE PLOT Jeffrey Eugenides, fiction ($28)
The Pulitzer Prize winner’s long-awaited third novel weaves semiotics, Victorian literature, Mother Teresa, and manic depression into an early-’80s tale of three Brown graduates who struggle to find meaning and love in the “real world.” Psychologically astute and often hilarious, it’s a beautifully written page-turner.
P Music
MYLO XYLOTO
Coldplay ($19) Described by
front man Chris Martin as “a kind of love story,” the Brit band’s latest plays like a movie in album form. Tracks such as the gorgeously restrained “Up in Flames” and the bass-thumping “Princess of China,” featuring Rihanna, are great on their own, but they’re even better as part of an intoxicatingly theatrical whole.
MAKE A PAPERBACK PUMPKIN This Halloween, recycle a yard sale find into a spooky jack-o’-lantern that you can show off year after year. For complete instructions and a list of supplies, go to Parade.com/project.
PHOTOS, FROM TOP: DEBBIE FLEMING CAFFREY; COURTESY OF THE SOMERVILLE FAMILY; LUIS ERNESTO SANTANA
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