Children's Non-Fiction - Sex Education book

The week after next, we will be reading and discussing assorted types of children's non-fiction books in my Info. Needs of Children class. I wanted to get a jump-start on my reading notes, so I borrowed the book It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families by Robie Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley to read as my "sex education" children's book.

I thought it was really well done - informative, but on a level that isn't too much for children. Many people disagree and feel this book is not appropriate for children under 13 because of the following reasons:

1) It has illustrations that show the difference between boys and girls with labels for all their parts, both inside and outside.

2) It explains what "sex" is - that in can mean both gender and sexual intercourse and the very basics of what that is.

3) It briefly mentions birth control, IUI, IVF, and abortion

4) It mentions homosexuality and talks about different kinds of families (mom and dad, two moms, two dads, divorce, blended families, adoption) and how these are all perfectly fine and normal

5) It actually shows a mother breastfeeding her baby.

6) It discusses puberty in terms of the changes that happen for both boys and girls, and this includes periods, erections and wet dreams.

7) It touches on HIV and AIDS

There are probably more reasons people get upset about this book.

I liked how it really did try to be comprehensive and informative and make sure children know that whether they are a boy or a girl, adopted or not, from a non-traditional family or not - even whether they are curious about puberty, sex, babies, birth, etc or not - it's all normal and OK.

There's even a chapter that touches on good touching versus bad touching and what to do if it happens to you (tell a trusted grownup). Apparently this book has actually been used by children to help them tell a trusted grownup that it *was* happening to them.

There are really neat illustrations that show a developing fetus at different stages - some of the illustrations shown at actual size, so a child can get a good understanding of how small a baby starts out and how they develop. Questions that kids really ask are asked by the narrators, the Bird and the Bee. Does a baby poop inside the mom? That sort of thing. It shows a simple diagram of a pregnant woman and where her uterus and baby are as opposed to her stomach (with pizza in it!) and digestion tract so they can see the difference between the stomach and uterus.