Peabody Award winner Simon to discuss new book on adoption

Radio listeners who are familiar with Scott Simon’s radio-host voice on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” will notice something different Sunday afternoon.

When he’s talking about his daughters, his voice takes on an added warmth and depth that longtime listeners can’t miss. Keep an ear out for it when he speaks in “An Afternoon with Scott Simon” at the Paramount Theater, which is part of the Virginia Festival of the Book.

The Peabody Award-winning correspondent will be discussing his new book, “Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other,” with Thomas Pierce, his longtime producer.

The sense of grounding and home that creeps into his voice is only one of the changes in Simon’s life since Simon and his wife adopted their girls, now 7 and 4, from China. His new book follows the journey of consciously building families by uniting children who need parents with people who need to be their parents. He dives into the meaning of love, of family, of new beginnings, of hope.

“What we want to do is open a window on adoption,” he said. “I really do think it is an opportunity.”

Friend and producer Pierce has heard Simon’s vocal shift himself many times.

“His tone changes when he’s on the phone with his daughters,” Pierce said fondly. “Scott’s family is such a huge part of his life. He’ll tell you this — he thinks his life didn’t begin until he married Caroline and adopted those girls.”

Pierce said that Simon’s book, and Sunday’s conversation, can appeal to anyone who has been a parent or a child, and to anyone who appreciates “a cry-worthy laugh” or two.

“It’s so honest,” Pierce said of the book. “It’s extremely honest. He can relay something that is extremely sad, and in the next breath he can make you laugh. It’s a really moving book in that way, and it’s something a lot of people can relate to.”

Adoptive families learn to become comfortable with paradox.

“Your world does get a little bit larger,” Simon said. “My wife and I feel a sense of affiliation with China because of our little girls.

“On the other hand, our world is shrinking. It underscores, really, the universality of the human experience.”

Simon describes his family’s adoption journey and those of 13 other families in his new work. A sportswriter, an economics expert and a fashion designer are among the folks who describe how adoption transformed their families and the way they view the world. And, of course, no two stories are the same.

Simon had written about his own experiences before in a memoir, so he understood the importance of treating all of the families’ stories with respect. Especially his own.

“I was aware of the fact that this was a book that my children would grow up with,” he said.

That didn’t mean that Simon had to gloss over painful incidents along the way, but he realized that his subjects might be uncomfortable revealing details about their own .

The adoption process can bring anticipation and joy, but it also can include frustrating battles with bureaucracy, hurt feelings, delays and adjustment periods. Simon was pleasantly surprised to learn that all of his subjects wanted to share the ups and downs they’d encountered along the way.

“Nobody wanted to leave out the rough stuff,” Simon said. “They wanted you to be able to understand it — to really understand it.

“When you adopt a child, you have to recognize and accept that they had a rough start in life. All of that being said, at the same time, you have to understand that life is about having something rough happen to you, and you grow from it.”

And Simon said there’s an aspect of the adoption process that’ll feel familiar to any family: Love has the power to override a lot of life’s frustrations.

Once your family is together, “it’s like childbirth in the sense that you don’t remember the other stuff,” Simon said softly.