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

by Robie H. Harris, Michael Emberley (Illustrator)

Overview

Fully and fearlessly updated, this vital new edition of the acclaimed book on sex, sexuality, bodies, and puberty deserves a spot in every family’s library.

With more than 1.5 million copies in print, It’s Perfectly Normal has been a trusted resource on sexuality for more than twenty-five years. Rigorously vetted by experts, this is the most ambitiously updated edition yet, featuring to-the-minute information and language accompanied by new and refreshed art.

Updates include:

* A shift to gender-neutral vocabulary throughout

* An expansion on LGBTQIA topics, gender identity, sex, and sexuality—making this a sexual health book for all readers

* Coverage of recent advances in methods of sexual safety and contraception with corresponding illustrations

* A revised section on abortion, including developments in the shifting politics and legislation as well as an accurate, honest overview

* A sensitive and detailed expansion on the topics of sexual abuse, the importance of consent, and destigmatizing HIV/AIDS

* A modern understanding of social media and the internet that tackles rapidly changing technology to highlight its benefits and pitfalls and ways to stay safe online

Inclusive and accessible, this newest edition of It’s Perfectly Normal provides young people with the knowledge and vocabulary they need to understand their bodies, relationships, and identities in order to make responsible decisions and stay healthy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536207217
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Series:	The Family Library
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	35,231
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Robie H. Harris has written many award-winning books for children of all ages, including the definitive Family Library about sexuality: It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!, and It’s NOT the Stork! She is also the author of the first three books in the Let’s Talk About YOU and ME series. She lives in New York City.

Michael Emberley is the illustrator of numerous books for children, including the Family Library. He lives in Ireland.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Lots of Questions

Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health 1

Part 1 What Is Sex?

1 Babies, Kids, Preteens, Teens, Grown-ups 2

Sex and Gender

2 Making Babies 5

Sexual Reproduction

3 Strong Feelings 6

Sexual Desire

4 Making Love 8

Sexual Intercourse

5 Who We Are 11

Straight, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning,+

Part 2 Our Bodies

6 The Human Body 18

All Kinds of Bodies

7 Outside and Inside 22

Our Sex Organs

8 Words 28

Talking about Bodies and Sex

Part 3 Puberty

9 Changes and Messages 30

Puberty and Hormones

10 The Travels of the Egg 33

Eggs and Puberty

11 The Travels of the Sperm 39

Sperm and Puberty

12 Not All at Once! 43

Growing and Changing Bodies

13 More Changes! 45

Taking Care of Your Body

14 Back and Forth, Up and Down 48

New and Changing Feelings

15 Perfectly Normal 51

Masturbation

Part 4 Families and Babies

16 All Sorts of Families 53

Taking Care of Babies and Kids

17 Instructions-Information 56

The Cell: Genes and Chromosomes

18 A Kind of Sharing 59

Cuddling, Kissing, Touching, and Sexual Intercourse

19 Before Birth 63

Pregnancy

20 What a Trip! 67

Birth

21 Other Arrivals 72

More Ways to have a Baby and Family

Part 5 Decisions

22 Planning Ahead 75

Delay, Postpone, Abstain, Prevent, Control

23 Laws and Rulings 82

Abortion

Part 6 Staying Healthy

24 Helpful-Fun-Creepy-Dangerous 87

The Internet and You

25 Talk About It 93

Sexual Abuse

26 Getting a Checkup 97

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

27 Scientists Working Day and Night 101

HIV and Aids

28 Staying Healthy 106

Responsible Choices

Editorial Reviews

"It's Perfectly Normal is informative and interesting; reassuring and responsible; warm and charming. I wish every child (and parent) could have a copy." — Penelope Leach, Ph.D., author of YOUR BABY & CHILD

"I recommend [IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL] to parents and children who are coming into adolescence. They will love it." — T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. author of TOUCHPOINTS

"A perfectly wonderful treatment of the always touchy subject of sex education for young people. The book treats the subject seriously and its intended readers respectfully." — Hugh B. Price, president, National Urban League, Inc.

From the Publisher

2021-03-31
A groundbreaking text gets updated.

Harris and Emberley’s title has been a controversial staple of the sex-ed genre since its first edition in 1994. This iteration will look familiar in structure and language, and Emberley’s spot illustrations throughout still show various bodies, often naked, sometimes engaging in discreetly covered sexual activity. In this outing, readers will find more information about the internet, an update on legal developments around abortion access, and more inclusive language around gender identity and sexuality. Of especial note are new illustrations highlighting same-sex relationships, both in and out of bed. As has been a feature since the beginning, a bee and a bird pipe up throughout; the bird is interested in everything about sexuality and puberty, and the bee expresses more discomfort and disinterest, mirroring how different readers might respond. While Harris continues to deliver accessible yet clinical messaging around the realities of puberty and the risks and rewards of sexual activity, this book falters significantly in its attempts to include intersex, trans, and nonbinary readers. It switches confusingly between “a pregnant person” and “pregnant women,” acknowledges gender-neutral pronouns but resorts occasionally to “his or her,” and labels bodies as “female” and “male” without referencing the limitations of or any reasoning behind that usage. The illustrations of human beings similarly fail to include any medically gender-transitioned bodies in an otherwise diverse array erroneously titled “All Kinds of Bodies.”

Still a useful resource, but it doesn’t meet the needs of many readers. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews