It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families (The Family Library) - Hardcover

Harris, Robie H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763600512 ISBN 13: 9780763600518

Publisher: Candlewick, 1999

Synopsis

With honesty, accuracy, humor, and warmth, IT'S SO AMAZING offers children the real information they need—now more than ever.

How does a baby begin? What makes a baby female or male? Why are some babies twins? How is a baby adopted? Children sure have lots of questions about reproduction and babies—and about sex and sexuality too.

IT'S SO AMAZING! provides the fascinating answers—with fun, accurate, comic-book style artwork, and a clear, lively text that reflects an elementary-school child's interest in science and how things work. Throughout the book, a curious Bird and a squeamish Bee help tell the AMAZING story of how a baby is made—from the moment an egg and sperm join, through pregnancy, to birth. IT'S SO AMAZING! also addresses, in a reassuring and age-appropriate way, related topics such as love, sex, gender, families, heterosexuality, homosexuality, sexual abuse, and HIV and AIDS—while giving children a healthy understanding of their bodies.

Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley, author and illustrator of IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL: CHANGING BODIES, GROWING UP, SEX AND SEXUAL HEALTH, created IT'S SO AMAZING! in response to requests from parents, educators, librarians, and health professionals for a book that would address a younger child's concerns. Vetted and approved by science, health, and child development experts, this comprehensive, forthright, and funny book is just what children need—to provide answers to their questions and to keep them safe, healthy, and unafraid.

About this title

About the Author

Robie H. Harris says, "My challenge in writing IT'S SO AMAZING! was to weave the fascinating and complicated science facts about reproduction and birth into the story of the egg and the sperm, and to communicate to children in an honest and simple way how amazing this story really is!"
Michael Emberley says that while creating the illustrations for IT'S SO AMAZING!, he "tried to delicately balance age-appropriateness, absolute accuracy, honesty, and just plain fun."

From Booklist

The author and illustrator duo that broke new ground with their frank talk and depiction of puberty and changing bodies in It's Perfectly Normal, (1994) returns with an equally outstanding book. It's for children who may have "noticed kids who are going through puberty" but are not there themselves and have questions about sex and "where babies come from." The simple and straightforward prose focuses on reproduction and birth, including information on eggs, sperm, male and female body parts, the multiple meanings of sex, fetal development and delivery, family composition, and "okay touches" and "not okay touches." Related issues such as puberty, sexual orientation, birth control, and AIDS receive less detailed attention. The text is browser friendly; important information and reassuring words are repeated. Harris is also very good at recognizing children's misconceptions and teams up with Emberley to address myths in humorous ways: one illustration clears up the confusion over where the pizza goes (in the mother's stomach) and where the baby grows (in the uterus, or womb). The inquisitive bird and the embarrassed bee of the first book are back, but in more prominent roles as commentators, word definers and pronouncers, and official punsters. The bold, colorful illustrations fill the pages and are not as graphic as in the previous book. With the exception of two pages showing male and female bodies from infancy to older adulthood, examples feature clothed children and adults, and comic-strip art chronicles the amazing adventures of egg and sperm. A welcome book that meets the needs of those in-between or curious kids who are not ready, developmentally or emotionally, for It's Perfectly Normal. Amy Brandt

Edition details

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0763600512
• ISBN 13: 9780763600518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Emberley Michael