Customer Reviews

The Story of Me (God's Design for Sex)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A little boy asks his father to "Tell me my story again, Daddy," and the rest of the book follows their conversation about how the little boy came to be. The story-within-a-story format prompted my daughter to compare herself and "her story" to the little boy in the book and "his story," and has led to some special, meaningful conversations of our own. An excellent starting point for teaching children about the "facts of life" from a loving, common-sense, Christian point of view. The wording and images are natural, simple, and direct, and turn what could be an awkward topic for some parents into a piece of cake. A lovely and beautifully-illustrated book. Much thanks to the authors.

Winner of the ECPA Medallion of Excellence Christian Book Award, this is the first of four books in the "God's Design for Sex" series. The authors' intent is to offer age appropriate tools that help parents be proactive teachers and counselors rather than reactive problem solvers. Starting the discussion early prevents having to re-teach errant lessons learned from other sources such as the media, classmates or friends.

This first book shows a boy with his family, a mom, dad and baby sister. He asks to hear his story, the way God made him. Readers listen in as a loving question and answer conversation takes place. The book is packed with information. Here is a basic list of what it teaches. (Quotes come directly from the book.)

* Why are babies born? To be loved by their parents and to grow up and love God.
* Who can have babies? "God wants only married people to have babies...Sometimes a mother knows she will not be able to give everything her baby needs. This mother might let another mommy and daddy adopt her baby."
* How are babies made? God "took a little tiny piece of Daddy's body and a tiny piece oif Mommy's body ... God put you in Mommy's womb, or uterus, inside her body." The text also explains: it takes about nine months; while in the mother's womb, the baby breathes and eats through the umbilical cord. This is why we have belly buttons.
* How do babies get out of their mothers? God made the vagina "so it could stretch just big enough to let you out." But some babies could be in danger if born that way, so their mommies have an operation so they can be born safely.
* Without the cord, how do babies eat? "Mother's bodies take the food we eat and make part of it into milk that comes out of our breasts. Our milk is the perfect food for a young baby!"
* How and why are boys and girls different? Boys have penises, and girls have vaginas. "Only girls can become mommies, and only boys can become daddies ... God made all people to love God and make Him happy by obeying His rules." We make God happy when we love Him and love each other. We show our love to Him through obedience; we can show our love to each other "by hugs and kisses, and by taking care of each other."
* Are all hugs and kisses good? No. "God does not want anyone to take love from you that you don't want to share." Our bodies are private. Mothers and fathers help bathe young children, and doctors may check our bodies, but those are the only exceptions. "Someday when you marry, you won't have to be private with your wife."

Joel Specter served as illustrator for this book. Using a slightly impressionistic style, his pictures offer realistic details, but are also intentionally vague where necessary. A boy's penis is shown twice: once in utero and again immediately after birth. In both cases, it's hardly noticeable and certainly not the focus of the illustration. A girl's vagina is shown just once, while her mother changes her diaper. Again, it's not the focus of the illustration, but it is visible. Also, one illustration shows the mother talking with her older son while breastfeeding her infant daughter. While it is obvious what she's doing, no inappropriate parts are visible.

WHAT I LIKE: I greatly appreciate the concept. What I like the most is the parent guide at the beginning of the book. This part (5 pages long) grounds parents in the need for these conversations and equips them to initiate the conversations without being extremely uncomfortable. There is bound to be some discomfort, but thanks to this guide, it doesn't have to be severe. I also like the illustrations. The artist did a fantastic job with a sensitive topic by keeping the focus on the faces even when other body parts were visible.

WHAT I DISLIKE: The content may be too thorough. I want my kids to have correct information, but I fear the repercussions of them sharing this information with their friends, which is bound to happen with preschoolers. They repeat everything and not always accurately! I'm not sure they need this much at this age. I think the same concepts can be taught without so many specific details. Also, this book caters to traditional families. Children with single parents or other nontraditional guardians may come away with more questions than answers.

Overall Rating: Very Good, but not for every family.

Tanya -- Christian Children's Book Review

The main concern I have of this book is the way that it portrays childbirth. The reason we purchased this book is because my pregnancy was rousing questions of where babies come from, how they get inside a womb etc from our 5 year old daughter. The author of the book portrays that a normal childbirth is a scary surgery (complete with drawing) and although our daughter knows that sometimes(rarely) women need surgery we did not appreciate a surgical birth drawn and vaguely described as the only birth info. If I had wanted to educate her on c-sections, there are plenty of books out there written by those who have had them - for women, men, and children.
I would actually reccommend a different book for this age group (3-5)on this topic and I would reccommend the 2nd book in this series (before I was born)very highly. The second book in the series, although for children ages 5-8 (our daughter is in between both of these age groups which is why I ordered both books), not only beautifully and tastefully describes sex between a married couple but also describes and illustrates childbirth as something that mothers bodies are made by God to do and does not focus on what could go wrong. (i.e. some babies are born without brain development but when purchasing a book on normal life, one wouldn't expect to see and read about it there).
Luckily for us, the authors fully stand by the content of their books and our money will be refunded since we weren't happy with it. I hope my review is helpful to those discerning the purchase of this book.

Highly recommend this series from a christian perspective. Practical, down-to-earth, realistic.
Good illustration. well done. My kids responded well to the format. Fills a real gap.

My kids are 7 & 10 and I am starting this series with them, beginning with this book. We recently had a baby and this, of course, sparked many questions. They giggled through some of the terminology, but it's important to me that we talk about this within our family so that when they hear "things" from other kids, they'll know the truth and will open up to us about what they've heard. I didn't think that the C-section was too much, as one reviewer mentioned. The author was just covering all of the ways babies arrive. I also did not mind that the book mentions that "Someday when you marry, you won't have to be private with your wife." I explained that the Bible even says that when you marry, your body belongs to that person and that person only! This book is great if you are looking for words to begin conversations about how babies are made, and emphasizes how God made girls and boys different, and both very special.

After this sentence...."Then He took a little tiny piece of Daddy's body and a tiny piece of Mommy's body and made you! That is why you look a little like me and a little like Mommy." My daughter perked up, "Oh! So that's what happened! But I wonder which piece of Daddy God used?"

So on to the next book...

I'm not a TOTAL prude, but my NINE-year-old is not quite ready for this book yet, even though it is intended to be for ages 3 to 5.

The majority of the book does talk about just what the baby is doing inside the mother, how he gets OUT, etc., and I'm totally fine with that. I like how they use the proper terminology, although I'm not a huge stickler for that. In our family we use more "childlike" terms, but nothing off-the-wall. It doesn't bother me either way.

But I do NOT feel that a 3-5-year-old is ready for even hints at how the baby got inside the mother in the first place. If the child ASKS for anything beyond "God put him there," that is one thing. But this book plants that idea that there is more to it, and I'm not comfortable with that.

"Then He took a tiny piece of Daddy's body and a tiny piece of Mommy's body, and made YOU!"

"And God made your body private. Mommy and I still help you take a bath, and a doctor might check every part of your body, but except for that your p*n*s and a girl's v*g*na are private. [I'm OK with these sentences but not the next one, not for this age group anyway!] Someday when you marry, your wife will be the only person you won't have to be private with at all."

I do like the fact that bre*stfeeding is expressed as something normal, natural, and good. And as I said, the authors did a great job of explaining what the baby does inside and how he comes out (even a c-section). But because of the 2 sentences I shared, if I were to read this to my child, I would have to do some heavy editing, because my children are not ready for that information yet.

This book was great! We have remained very general with our children, and this book was a perfect doorway to usher in an open trusting diolouge with our children about sex. Done in a very respectful, gentle, modest way. It does not go into deatail about physical love but lays the buildiong blocks to talk of these things when the days come years from now. I expected shock and questions but it was recieved gracefully and my children really enjoy the book. We have nevr discussed anything as far as this subject as to not over burden our children with knowledge too heavy for them . But we desire in that to remain truthful and approachable. SO this is a great balance and excellent begining. Our girls are 3,4,& 6 . This book was good for all of them and can be used with boys and girls. I will wait probably 6 months before reading the 2nd book to our six year older. No need to go full speed here. This is special topic and needs to be dealt with in a wise manner. Excellent , Excellent book. We are very careful at what we present to our kids, so this is great for all families.

I was looking for something like this as my preschooler started asking lots of questions when I was pregnant with #2. It's very age apprpriate, answers questions without giving too much information, in a matter-of-fact manner. I like that it's a series, so every few years I can read her another, with age appropriate information. Also touches on adoption and strangers.

The content of this book is excellent. Just the right amount of info and gentle phrasing. "God took a tiny piece of Daddy's body and a tiny piece of Mommy's body and made you."

I only gave this book 4 stars because it is a very long read, especially for this age group. The writing is confusing at first. It is written like a dialog, but there is no "he said, she said," Just a continual flow of text with no indication of who is speaking. Obviously you will read this to yourself before presenting it to your child, but I'd suggest reading it through several times, noting with a pencil ways to make the dialog more clear. Consider reading it in 2 or more chunks of time.

In my experience, my children weren't ready for this book until about age 5, when they could really grasp the dialog and content. So we won't be moving on to the next book for a while.

So sweet. Age appropriate for my 3, 5 & 7 year old. Great tool to talk to them about their private parts, God's plan for them and where babies grow inside a woman's body. Sweet book that opens dialogue for innocent healthy communication. I ordered all three. Will read the other two books for older children as they grow up.