It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health

When children wonder about sex, where will they go for the answers? Providing accurate, lucid, unbiased answers to nearly every conceivable question children may have about sexuality, IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL is here to help. From conception and puberty to birth control and AIDS, it is a refreshingly open and thorough presentation of the facts of sex—both biological and psychological—which children need now more than ever. Throughout, two cartoon characters, a curious bird, and a squeamish bee reflect the diverse feelings children often have about sex. Packed with warm, age-appropriate illustrations, often humorous but always scientifically correct, IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL offers children the reassurance that the changes and emotions they experience while growing up are perfectly normal.

Grade 4-8-A wonderful guide for young adolescents setting sail on the stormy seas of puberty. Packed with the vital information they need to quell fears and make wise decisions, this "sex manual" uses of clever cartoons to enliven and expand the text. Frank yet playful, they portray a reassuring array of body types and ethnic groups and illuminate the richly informative, yet compact text, allowing readers to come away with a healthy respect for their bodies and a better understanding of the role that sexuality plays in the human experience. Birth control, abortion, and homosexuality are given an honest, evenhanded treatment, noting differing views and recommending further discussion with a trusted adult. The dangers of STDs, teen parenthood, and sexual abuse are examined. The inventive use of a bird and a bee that react to the topics throughout artfully contrasts the differing views of early and late bloomers. Like any book that depicts naked bodies and sexual activity, this one is sure to inspire a few giggles in the stacks and be likely to disappear. But what it offers in scope, currency, and a cheerfully engaging format is quite special. An ideal introduction to "coming of age."-Virginia E. Jeschelnig, Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, Willowick, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this intelligent, amiable and carefully researched book, Harris ( Before You Were Three ) frankly explains the physical, psychological, emotional and social changes that occur during puberty--and the implications of these changes. Taking a conversational, relaxed tone, Harris also discusses such subjects as sexual orientation, sexual reproduction, pregnancy, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and sexual abuse. The author intentionally and effectively repeats certain crucial information, especially on the subject of the possible consequences of sexual intercourse. Alternately playful and realistic (and occasionally graphic), Emberley's ( Ruby ) watercolor-and-pencil art reinforces Harris's message that bodies come in all sizes, shapes and colors--and that each variation is "perfectly normal." Cartoon panels illustrate various complicated processes (e.g., menstruation, the fertilization of an egg, childbirth). Appearing on each spread are two characters--an easy-going bird and an apprehensive bee--whose comments add levity to this solid volume. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 4-7. This caring, conscientious, and well-crafted book will be a fine library resource as well as a marvelous adjunct to the middle-school sex-education curriculum. There's no doubt, however, that some libraries and schools will have problems with Emberley's plentiful pictures, which, besides being warm and unaffected, are eyepoppers--especially in a book for this age group. The bold color cartoon drawings are very candid: a double-page spread of nudes, which beautifully demonstrates the varied shapes and sizes humans come in; a picture of a couple making love; one of a boy masturbating as he sits on his bed; another of a girl examining her genitals with a mirror. Less controversial will be Emberley's helpful diagrams and the running cartoon commentary he supplies on the main text, which is delivered by an embarrassed bee and a curious bird (modern kids may miss the allusion, and the device eventually wears thin). Harris' text, as forthright as Emberley's art, encompasses all the supposedly "age appropriate" issues (the structure of the reproductive system and puberty, for example), as well as a good deal more--from the terms we use when we talk about sex to intercourse, birth, abortion, sexual health, abuse, and issues of responsibility and respect. Readers won't find answers to their burning questions quite as easily here as they will in the at-a-glance question-answer overview Asking about Sex and Growing Up (1988), by Joanna Cole. Harris' coverage, however, is much broader and a good deal more detailed. With illustrations scattered liberally across the pages, the format occasionally seems crowded, but the candor of the artwork will help kids view sex as a natural part of life. Such openness will also help them grasp the main message of the text: that sex comprises many things, not just one. Children will find this a comforting, informative precursor to Lynda Madaras' books on puberty; librarians will find it well worth fighting for if, by some chance, the need arises. Stephanie Zvirin

Illustrator Emberley (Welcome Back, Sun, 1993, etc.) has teamed up with Harris (Hot Henry, 1987, etc.) to present more ethnic and sexual diversity than New York City's Rainbow Curriculum ever bargained for as they battle all concepts non-PC: They take swings at ageism (``People have sexual intercourse well into old age'') and at homophobia in the military (pointing out that, in ancient Sparta, it was thought ``that if a warrior was in the same regiment as his lover, he would fight harder in order to impress him''). But there's more information than polemic here, as the reader is guided by a corny but never condescending pair--an uninhibited bird and a repressed bee--through puberty, anatomy, reproduction, and a sense of the emotional weight that accompanies sexuality. The book intelligently covers birth-control options, how to have safer sex, how to treat STDs, and, in an especially impressive chapter, how to combat sexual abuse--all without patronizing the pre- or post-pubescent. Emberley's illustrations are often as funny as they are informative. With affirmations of homosexuality and masturbation--``it's perfectly normal''--and a choice-leaning (yet cautious) discussion on abortion, this volume will be anathema to social conservatives. But for parents who fear that a school sex-ed class may not be informative enough, it will certainly aid that dreaded birds-and-bees discussion. A terrific teaching tool that just may help slow the spread of sexual diseases and ignorance. (Nonfiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.