AIDS: You Can't Catch It Holding Hands - Hardcover

De Saint Phalle, Niki

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 093249952X ISBN 13: 9780932499523

Publisher: Lapis Pr, 1987

Synopsis

Provides the facts on how AIDS can and can't be transmitted, and how to prevent the spread of this disease, in the form of a letter from a mother to her son

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Most people will agree that addressing the issue of AIDS with kids is inescapable, and, assuming that political uproar can be avoided by treating the disease solely as a human tragedy, how should it be done? This book takes a straight-talk strategy, with references to "vaginal fluids," "intestinal secretions," "making love" (oral, anal and vaginal sex), rubbers and phrases like "no sex parties," "but you can touch all over" and, for drug users, the advice "never share a needle." The amount of informationon sex and drugstaken for granted here, before readers are informed about AIDS, is astonishing. However, to dispel some fears, there are some invaluable facts for kids on how "you can't catch it" from a pet, an insect or a flower, or from food utensils, money, toilet seats, books or doorknobs. De Saint Phalle's colorful display of the facts, in a picture book format, gives readers badly needed relief from a morbid encounter with such a destructive force. But the art is quite sophisticated and explicit for readers of the picture-book age. This book may infuriate some and depress others. It unintentionally proves just how difficult it is to educate kids about AIDS without thrusting them, prematurely, into the hardcore realities of the adult world. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up Written as though it were a letter to ``Philip'' from his mother, this dreadful book has under 900 words and looks like a picture book done with crayons in imitation Matisse-cum-early Peter Max. It is handwritten, with many of the loops filled in with color, like the doodles many make during a boring phone call. An assortment of ways that the virus cannot be caught is listed, some as silly as flowers and ca naries. No scientific or sexual informa tion is given, except the caution to use ``rubbers'' which are pictured whimsi cally colored with snakes and hearts. The prose is choppy, and the grammar and punctuation are extremely uncon ventional. The advice is explicit with out elucidation, as though aimed at peo ple with a lot of sexual experience who can barely read. While this audience needs to be reached, the patronizing tone here will do so inadequately. The content is accurate but misleading. While nothing else on AIDS is available in a high-low format, the flippant style of this book will not serve readers. A better-written but equally cautionary ti tle with appeal for reluctant readers is Hawkes' AIDS (Gloucester, 1987). Anne Osborn, Riverside Public Library, Calif.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lapis Pr
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 093249952X
• ISBN 13: 9780932499523
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 52