Being a teenager in today's complex world is a difficult enough task, but adopted teens have a unique struggle: to discover their identity and a sense of belonging and place in the world, which often means coming to terms with their past. The Face in the Mirror, based on numerous interviews with adopted teens, adoptive parents, and birth parents, brings attention to the growing and often controversial phenomenon of teenagers wanting to know where they came from.

The book, written for both teenagers and adults, is a frank discussion of the issues surrounding adoption, and in particular what adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents should know when adopted teens want to discover their past. The book also addresses the impact of cross-cultural or cross-racial adoption, as well as the legal parameters of adoption in the US and Canada, including the complex emotions involved.

As written by Marion Crook, an adoptive parent herself and the author of previous books about teens, The Face in the Mirror articulates the complexity of adoption issues with candor and compassion.