'To Sing Frogs' Memoir Explores the Heartwarming and Heartwrenching World of International Adoption

SALT LAKE CITY, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Capturing the incredible story of one family's quest to rescue five children from a rural orphanage in Russia, "To Sing Frogs: A True Story About Family, Friends, Life and Other Things that Don't Make Sense," a memoir by award-winning author John M. Simmons, debuts this Saturday, June 15 from White Knight Printing and Publishing.

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To commemorate the debut, a book launch is set to begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 15 at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, starting with a fundraiser for Ele Lembra, a nonprofit foundation that provides direct support to give children without parents a better chance at a successful life. The event will include the simultaneous release of more than 400 butterflies representing orphans in need of families, followed by a book signing at Weller Book Works from 7-9 p.m.

Chronicling the Simmons family's harrowing and sometimes heartbreaking experience, "To Sing Frogs" transports the reader to the gritty, bare-bones, overflowing orphanages on the wind-whipped frozen tundra of Far East Russia on an unforgettable journey of the heart. Along the way, Simmons, his wife Amy, and their new growing family come to discover the power of family bonds, commitment and perseverance to break through the bounds of geography, ethnicity, age and time.

Through his first-hand, matter-of-fact insight into the challenges and life-affirming rewards of international adoption, Simmons aims to inspire others to open their hearts and their homes to children around the world in need of a family.

"This is not your stereotypical sappy adoption story; it's raw and gritty, and hardly sugar-coated. But it is nothing short of miraculous," Simmons says of his experience and the book. A man of logic and practicality, Simmons and his wife set out to adopt just three Russian orphans. But, he soon learned that those not placed with families face a harrowing future: upon aging out of orphanages, 60 percent of girls turn to prostitution while 70 percent of boys become hardened criminals; 40 percent remain unemployed and one-third would be homeless. Even more heartbreaking, 10 percent commit suicide in the first year after leaving the orphanage.

The couple was so deeply moved by the precious faces and troubling future odds for those left behind, they returned to bring home two more girls, to complete their family with nine children—three biological and six adopted. 

"There are so many children who need families, and I want readers to know that they CAN do something to help," Simmons said. "I want them to fall in love with these beautiful children as we did, to see that you don't have to be perfect to give these incredible kids a better future. I want people to consider that, rather than playing golf or going on cruises after they retire, they can do so much more to give a child a chance at happiness—at a family—instead."

Featuring an afterword by #1 New York Times Bestselling author Richard Paul Evans, "To Sing Frogs" is a book of paradoxes throughout: strangers become siblings, cultures and languages collide, Amy's unwavering faith holds fast through Simmons' own transformation from a cynical and analytical man into a father who must recognize that, in matters of the heart, some things simply can't be explained.

"To Sing Frogs" is Simmons' second title from White Knight Publishing. His award-winning novel The Marvelous Journey Home earned Book of the Month status from Audio Book News Service and BookReview.com and made the Top Ten Reads Lists for MyShelf.com. The novel earned Best of State for fiction in the Utah Best of State Awards for 2008.

To Sing Frogs is available in paperback at Amazon.com and everywhere books are sold through Ingrams, Baker and Taylor. All proceeds from copies of the book sold benefit Ele Lembra. For more details, visit www.johnmsimmons.com.

SOURCE White Knight Printing and Publishing