The New Yorker has printed a funny article by called “Too Much Information” by Jill LePore in which among other things, it mentioned these selections…
” Maybe you had one of these books when you were young. The big hits in the seventies were “ ‘Where Did I Come From?’: The Facts of Life Without Any Nonsense and with Illustrations” (1973) and “ ‘What’s Happening to Me?’: The Answers to Some of the World’s Most Embarrassing Questions” (1975), both of which were written by Peter Mayle, who went on to write “A Year in Provence.” If you put your mother and your father in a bathtub, Mayle suggested, you’d notice that they’re different. “You’ve probably noticed that already, but you notice it much more when you put them in the bath together.” “Vagina” rhymes with “Carolina,” Mayle explained, and an orgasm is like a sneeze. Gesundheit. You can see Mayle’s influence in the way the authors of these books try to be funny—deadpan and wide-eyed—but when they’re awful—phony, mainly, and joyless—there’s almost nothing worse, because if you’re nine and you’re reading a book with the word “uterus” in it, really, it’s bad enough already.
The best of the latest batch have an endearing and companionable matter-of-factness. “Pads are also called sanitary napkins,” Robie H. Harris explains in “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health,” for ages ten and up, and then she has the good sense to add, “Sanitary means clean.” Harris doesn’t have Mayle’s ear for the ridiculous, but at least she’s not hammy. Her books, which include “It’s So Amazing! A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families,” for ages seven and up, are genuinely sweet, in a genre in which there’s a fairly despicable tendency to be edgy, brash, and cool, as if what kids can put out must be what they need from grownups. She’s got a section called “What’s Love?,” and sensible, even existential, answers (“Sometimes people just love each other”), along with a remarkably thoughtful discussion about love between men and men and between women and women. Harris’s books also boast by far the best illustrations, honest and tender drawings by Michael Emberley.” Read more here
Books about the ‘birds & the bees”
An Exceptional Children’s Guide to Touch: Teaching Social and Physical Boundaries to Kids Hardcover by McKinley Hunter Manasco (Author), Katharine Manasco (Illustrator)
Asking About Sex & Growing Up: A Question-and-Answer Book for Kids
by Joanna Cole (Author), Bill Thomas (Illustrator)
Bobby and Mandee’s Too Safe for Strangers: Children’s Safety Book
by Robert Kahn (Author), Sue Lynn Cotton (Illustrator)
Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn-Proofing Today’s Young Kids
by Kristen A. Jenson M.A. (Author), Debbie Fox (Illustrator) by Kristen A. Jenson; (Author), Debbie Fox (Illustrator)
Just For Boys: A Book About Growing Up Hardcover-spiral
by Parragon Books (Author)
It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health (The Family Library)
It’s Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends (The Family Library)
It’s So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families (The Family Library) Paperback
I Said No! A Kid-to-kid Guide to Keeping Private Parts Private
King, Kimberly King (Author), King, Zack King (Author),Rama, Sue Rama (Illustrator)
On Your Mark, Get Set, Grow!: A “What’s Happening to My Body?” Book for Younger Boys Paperback by Lynda Madaras (Author), Paul Gilligan (Author)
Sex is a Funny Word: A Book about Bodies, Feelings, and YOU
by Cory Silverberg (Author), Fiona Smyth (Illustrator)
Sex, Puberty, and All That Stuff: A Guide to Growing Up by Jacqui Bailey
Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept 1st Edition by Jayneen Sanders (Author), Craig Smith (Illustrator)
The Boy’s Body Book: Third Edition: Everything You Need to Know for Growing Up YOU Paperback by Kelli Dunham (Author)
The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Schaefer (Author), Josee Masse (Illustrator)
The Care and Keeping of You 2: The Body Book for Older Girls Paperback by Cara Natterson (Author), Josee Masse (Illustrator) 978-1609580421
The Right Touch: A Read-Aloud Story to Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse (Jody Bergsma Collection) Hardcover by Sandy Kleven (Author), Jody Bergsma (Illustrator)
What’s Going on Down There?: Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask
by Karen Gravelle, Nick Castro, Chava Castro and Robert Leighton
‘What’s Happening to Me?’: The Answers to Some of the World’s Most Embarrassing Questions (Currently unavailable)
What Makes a Baby Hardcover by Cory Silverberg (Author), Fiona Smyth (Illustrator)
What’s the Big Secret?: Talking about Sex with Girls and Boys
by Laurie Krasny Brown (Author), Marc Brown
Asking About Sex & Growing Up: A Question-and-Answer Book for Kids
by Joanna Cole (Author), Bill Thomas (Illustrator)
What Makes a Baby Hardcover by Cory Silverberg (Author), Fiona Smyth (Illustrator)
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