It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library) [Paperback]

Robie H. Harris (Author), Michael Emberley (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2008 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: The Family Library

From the expert team behind IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL and IT'S SO AMAZING! comes a book for younger children about their bodies — a resource that parents, teachers, librarians, health care providers, and clergy can use with ease and confidence.

Young children are curious about almost everything, especially their bodies. And young children are not afraid to ask questions. What makes me a girl? What makes me a boy? Why are some parts of girls' and boys' bodies the same and why are some parts different? How was I made? Where do babies come from? Is it true that a stork brings babies to mommies and daddies?

IT'S NOT THE STORK! helps answer these endless and perfectly normal questions that preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school children ask about how they began. Through lively, comfortable language and sensitive, engaging artwork, Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley address readers in a reassuring way, mindful of a child's healthy desire for straightforward information. Two irresistible cartoon characters, a curious bird and a squeamish bee, provide comic relief and give voice to the full range of emotions and reactions children may experience while learning about their amazing bodies. Vetted and approved by science, health, and child development experts, the information is up-to-date, age-appropriate, and scientifically accurate, and always aimed at helping kids feel proud, knowledgeable, and comfortable about their own bodies, about how they were born, and about the family they are part of.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3–Harris opens by introducing two cartoon characters–a green-feathered bird clad in a purple shirt and blue high-top sneakers and his spike-haired friend, a bee. They wonder, So where DO babies come from? Their conversational commentary, given in word balloons, is a lighthearted supplement to a more focused narrative. Told in the second person, the text is straightforward, informative, and personable. Facts are presented step-by-step, starting from the similarities and differences between boys and girls bodies, moving to a babys conception, growth in the womb, and birth, ending with an exploration of different configurations of families as well as a section on okay versus not okay touches. The book is logically organized into 23 double-page sections. Friendly and relaxed cartoons, either interspersed with the text or appearing in comic-strip form, are integral to the titles success in imparting the material. The labeled drawings show both the outside and the inside parts of the body. As the bee and bird say to one another, Knowing the names of ALL the parts of your body is–PERFECTLY NORMAL! Overall, this book will be accessible to its intended audience, comforting in its clarity and directness, and useful to a wide range of readers.–Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* K-Gr. 3. Harris and Emberley's It's Perfectly Normal (1994) and It's So Amazing (1999), sex-ed books for pubescent and prepubescent readers, respectively, are among today's most frequently challenged titles. Their newest targets kids closer to potty training than puberty, but like its predecessors, it will undoubtedly raise as many hackles as it attracts words of praise. Some controversial elements in the previous books have been toned down or left out here; there are no images of unclothed adults or references to masturbation, abortion, and birth control. But what remains will still widen many eyes: pictures of nude children with body parts exhaustively labeled; text about the "kind of loving [that] happens when . . . the man's penis goes inside the woman's vagina" that candidly expresses what the accompanying under-the-blankets visual leaves to the imagination. Emberley's affectionate, mood-lightening cartoons keep things approachable, while Harris' respectful writing targets children's natural curiosity without cloaking matters in obfuscating language. Based on its length and detail, the book's advertised intent to reach children as young as four seems optimistic. All the same, this will smoothly adapt to the needs of individual families, who will want to choose among the three options based less on assigned age ranges than on personal comfort levels with the topics addressed. For another forthright but less-comprehensive book, suggest Dori Hillestad Butler's My Mom's Having a Baby! (2005). Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763633313
• ISBN-13: 978-0763633318
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 10.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Children's Books > Science, Nature & How It Works > Health > Sexuality

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary Book for Toddlers, July 30, 2006

By 

Eve Granger "Domesticated" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library) (Hardcover)

Many people think that this book, and the topic of sex and sexuality, should be avoided until the child asks about it. They hope such questions will arise around puberty. YOU SHOULD TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT SEX AND THEIR BODIES WHEN THEY'RE OLD ENOUGH TO WALK AND INTERACT WITH OTHER HUMANS. Why? Because if you wait until puberty to talk about "parts" and "making love", kissing, etc., you're leaving thirteen years during which your child can and --10%+ for young boys and 20%+ for young girls--will get sexually abused by somebody who takes advantage of the fact that they don't know any better.

This book is a blessing. In a not-too-graphic fashion, it depicts the differences between boys and girls, differences between men and women, and pregnancy. If you are uncomfortable teaching your toddler about sex, at the very least teach him/her the differences between boys and girls, and what is and isn't appropriate touching. As this book has nice cartoony but anatomically correct pictures of a naked boy and a naked girl, a parent can use it with a child of any age to *at least* show where is appropriate touching for which sex without frightening the child. I would recommend holding off the actual sex part of the book until the child is around nine or ten, but please parents, you must be comfortable teaching your child about his or her own body and what is appropriate touching from anybody to your child and from your child to anybody else.

With regards to content, the book uses simple text and real words. For example, "penis" and "vagina". I think parents ought to use these words with their children and teach them when it is appropriate to use them. For parents afraid that using such real language will land them in embarrassing situations, note that your children won't yell out curse words or anatomy words unless you pay attention to them when they do it.

With regards to the book's pictures, they are pretty cartoonish but anatomically correct. There is a picture of mom & dad having sex, but nothing that would be considered pornagraphic in any way. The picture of mom giving birth is more comical than anything else, not graphic at all.

Buy the book, share the anatomy part with your toddler, share the sex part with your prepubescent child, share the birth part with your twelve- or thirteen-year-old, but don't wait for your child to discover their sexuality at the hands of a "friend"-of-the-family (70%+ of child molestations) or the television (most people in my generation).

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So pleased that I picked this one!, November 7, 2007

By 

E. Szymanski (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library) (Hardcover)

When my kids started asking reproduction and anatomy questions, I checked out and read the reviews of every book on the subject I could find. I'm an RN, so it was important to me that it was accurate as well as engaging for my kids. I am so glad I picked this one. My children were 4 and 6 when we bought this book, and they absolutely loved it from the first reading. So did I. It has all the information I was hoping for and it is presented so appropriately for the age. Nothing is scary or more detailed than necessary. The illustrations are bright and fun and keep the kids engaged. The book is set up in such a way that is easy to navigate - that is, you can read it from beginning to end, and it flows appropriately - starting with body parts and boy/girl differences, reproduction in the middle, and a small section at the end about good and bad touches. You can also easily jump to the section that you or your child prefers without taking away from the book. For example, my daughter is fascinated by the cartoon showing the sperm swimming to the egg and we often just start there.

As a parent of young children and as an RN, I recommend this book to all parents

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good as a first exposure for Toddlers, January 30, 2007

By 

S. Bourget (Southern Maine, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library) (Hardcover)

I bought this because my five year old girl started asking "Where do babies come from?" The book is honest without being graphic and the pictures are not shocking. She liked the little cartoons and the simplified diagrahams. Besides just teaching the very basics about sex and where do babies come from, it also helped open the door to the conversation about good touches and bad touches. Who is allowed to touch you and what to do if someone touches you that shouldn't be.

My daughter really liked the book and didn't find it overwhelming. However, before someone buys this book, or any other book like this for their toddle, I would definitely suggest looking around at a lot of books on this topic.