Talking About the Birds and the Bees

It’s a subject most parents dread addressing. Fortunately, author Robie H. Harris boldly goes where parents are often scared to venture. Her books, cleverly illustrated in a child-friendly-yet-anatomically-correct way by illustrator Michael Emberley, are there to help you give your children the answers they crave with a minimum of embarrassment for all concerned.

This series includes books for three age levels:

• It’s Not the Stork is a primer on the differences between girls’ and boys’ bodies, and the basics of how babies are made, for kids four and up.
• It’s So Amazing offers more detail on how fertilization happens and how pregnancy works for kids seven and up.
• It’s Perfectly Normal gives children 10 and up straightforward information about sexual health that will ultimately prepare them to make smart decisions in the years that follow.

Throughout the books, a curious bird and a squeamish bee add their own running commentary in the margins, often saying the very thing your child (or the child in you!) might be thinking. (For example, in a section on intercourse in It’s Perfectly Normal, the bird says, “All this sounds exciting,” while the bee says, “It sounds gross and messy. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”)

Harris’s books have been used as a resource in 25 countries, and have been translated into 21 languages. The frank illustrations have been known to startle a grown up or two (think boy parts and girl parts, and all they can do!), but we promise your kids will appreciate the accuracy.

As for the best way to share this information, you can go through the books side-by-side with your kids, or leave them for the older ones to explore on their own. Either way, as Harris would say, is perfectly normal.

—Emily