Because It's My Body!: Keep 'Em Safe Series: Anxiety-Free Learning for Children

Focusing on empowerment and prevention, this approachable book gives young children a way to reject unwanted, possibly harmful physical contact by adults and other kids. Its nonconfrontational tone relays the importance of saying no without veering into descriptions of molestation—teaching children without scaring them. Diverse illustrations allow young readers to identify with the characters in the book and, without focusing on sexuality, the scenarios show children how to start the process of defining physical boundaries by teaching them that their entire body belongs to them. By giving them the tools to stand up for themselves, parents and educators can set kids on a path to protecting themselves from unwanted touching and abuse.

Joanne Sherman, MS, RN, APN, C, is a certified psychoanalyst and an advanced-practice psychiatric nurse. She lives in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. John Steven Gurney is the illustrator of more than 80 books for children, including all of the titles in Scholastic's The Bailey School Kids series and Random House's A to Z Mysteries series. He lives in Brattleboro, Vermont.