Slow Takes a Long Time

Meet Dang Guole. Found in a Chinese market in 2001, he was one of thousands of babies, mostly female, abandoned due to the government's one-child policy. The boy's path temporarily led to an abusive foster mother before he was shuttled among other caregivers in his home country. Across the world, a couple awaited a second adoption delayed by bureaucracy they had not experienced the first time. Finally agreeing to accept an older child - a boy, rather than a girl - they had no idea what lay ahead. After all, he had disabilities unnoted in the documentation. This is Dang Guole's remarkable journey. Combining uncommon journalistic and literary techniques, author Lesli Hicks pieces together his past and present, reimagining how he might fully tell his story. Her sources were his own expressive reactions, emerging language skills, and a host of loving teachers. Now the beneficiary of special education, the once-lost boy at the center of Slow Takes a Long Time teaches profound lessons about love and appreciation - and the patience required to achieve both. Thanks to this unique portrait, he and his message are here to stay, giving voice to special-needs adoptees around the world who have found the joy of a "forever" home. But even people who are not "different" can learn from him.