Puberty Is Gross but Also Really Awesome

by Gina Loveless, Lauri Johnston (Illustrator)

Overview

A first-of-its-kind inclusive puberty guide that celebrates the good and completely awful parts of puberty. Filled with jokes and countless facts to put this stage in perspective—this book is bound to be every kid's new best friend!

Puberty . . . is pretty gross for pretty much everyone. It's a smelly, hairy, sticky, and (worst of all) totally confusing time! But did you know there's a lot about puberty that makes it REALLY AWESOME?

Get the whole picture with this honest, humorous, and empowering survival guide to the tween years. It's packed with straighforward illustrations, easy-to-understand scientific information, interesting studies, and tips from experts, covering everything from breast development and gender identity to acne and mental health.

No matter your gender, sexuality, or race, this book is for you. Never shying away from the tough stuff, this utterly modern take on puberty is the resource this generation needs! Welcome to modern puberty—it's transformative, kind of gross, but undeniably AWESOME!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635653533
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/23/2021
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	70,977
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Gina Loveless remembers going through puberty with reverence and joy. Oh, wait . . . puberty? Scratch that. Puberty was totally awful, awkward, and full of embarrassing moments. (And frankly, adulthood hasn't been much different.) She used her background as a fact checker for Men's Health and Women's Health magazines, her MFA in creative writing from California Institute of the Arts, and her memory of how much puberty was gross, but also really awesome, to put together this book and help kids realize that puberty may be weird, but at least it's weird for everyone. Gina is also the author of the Diary of a 5th Grade Outlaw series and pens profiles and pieces on mental health for Men's Health. Find her at lovelesswriting.com and on Instagram @lovelesswriting.

Read an Excerpt

This book was written to be as INCLUSIVE as possible. Inclusive, in this case, means the book was written for every single kid to understand their way through puberty. This is a time when kids are surrounded by so much change that it can be weird and gross and scary, but also kinda cool. Puberty Is Gross, but Also Really Awesome wants to make sure as many kids as possible can pick up this book and find themselves in it. For instance, you’ll find a variety of adult caregivers used in examples throughout the book. Sometimes a mom is the adult; other times it's a foster dad. There are grandparents and aunts and uncles. This is because kids live many different kinds of lives. Some have parents and some of them have guardians. If you don’t relate to the type of adult mentioned because, say, your uncle didn’t pick out any of your clothes when you were a kid but your mom did, then swap in the adult who takes care of you.
Another way the book aims to be inclusive is by using the terms ASSIGNED MALE and ASSIGNED FEMALE. As you’ll learn in chapter 9: I Is Who I Is and I Like Who I Like (About Gender Expression, Gender Identity, and Sexual Expression) on page 69, not all people identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. There are transgender and gender non-conforming tweens, who are in the middle of transitioning or have transitioned to a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth. And there are kids experiencing gender dysphoria, who are unsure about their gender and whether or not it’s the same one they were assigned when they were born, which might be causing them anxiety, No matter what, your body changes are based on the sex you were assigned at birth. So be on the lookout for those phrases and use whatever the doctor assigned you when you were born as a way to know what’s happening with your body during puberty.
No matter what you identify as or who takes care of you, you’re all going through the same wacky time together. Hopefully, this book helps you realize how universal puberty is—like, literally universal. There are examples from all over the globe that show how alike you all are.
Don’t worry, you’re still uniquely you, but puberty is something that every single kid you know goes through, and there’s something REALLY AWESOME about that.
Body Changes and the Tooth Fairy
Four Ways That Losing Teeth Is a Lot Like Puberty
1. You know how you lost (or are still losing) your baby teeth so that your adult teeth could grow in? That’s a little like how puberty works. The same way your adult teeth grew into your mouth, the rest of your body will start to grow and form into your adult body.
2. When new teeth come in, it is actually called teeth eruption. Your shiny adult teeth push and erupt through your gums and into your mouth. That’s a little like puberty too, since it comes on all of a sudden and your body is kind of pushing and pulling itself in different ways to get to its adult form. Don’t worry, nothing’s going to fall off during puberty. (But if it does, get to a hospital right away!)
3. Was losing your teeth a little painful, and maybe even a little scary? That feeling can pop up during puberty too. Except, instead of it being physical pain, it usually comes on as emotional pain. In some ways, that can be tougher. But, just as with physical pain, there are different things you can do to feel better. (Check out the chapters on confidence, bullying, and mental health to learn more.)
4. Finally, here’s your first wild fact: Depending on when you get your first baby tooth, you can guess, roughly, when your first permanent tooth will come in. If your first baby tooth comes in a month earlier or later than the average first tooth’s appearance, then your first adult tooth will come in either 4.21 months early or late. That’s a little like puberty too, because your first changes during puberty set the rest of puberty.
Remember, with every baby tooth you lost, it was probably a little easier to deal with losing the next one. And you’ll get through puberty that way too. As the years pass, new challenges will come your way, and you’ll keep adapting and finding ways to handle them. Hey, if you found a way to handle losing a tooth, you’ll find a way to get through this.

Table of Contents

Note to the Reader 1

Body Changes and the Tooth Fairy 3

Four Ways that Losing Teeth is a Lot Like Puberty

Part 1 Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

1 Under your T-Shirt: (All About Breasts) 7

2 IN your Underwear:(All About the Penis, Testicles, and Scrotum) 15

3 Holo, Ovaries!: (All About Menstruation) 24

4 Hair, Hair Everywhere!: (All About Armpit, Leg, Facial, and Pubic Hair, and Shaving) 35

5 Wait, This Actually Grows?: (All About Voice) 44

6 You (Probably) Won't Hit the Ceiling: (All About Bone Development) 48

7 Fits and Zits: (All About Acne) 54

8 Stinky and Wet: (All About Sweat) 61

Part 2 The Whole-Body Approach

9 I IS Who I Is and I Like Who I Like: (All About Gender Expression, Gender Identity, and Sexual Expression) 69

10 Too Little, Too Zzzzzzzzzzz: (All About Sleep) 80

11 You Are What You Eat-and Don't Eat: (All About Nutrition) 89

12 Is It All in My Head?: (All About Mental Health) 98

13 I'm Okay Just as I Am: (All About Confidence) 107

14 Nobody Likes Me: (All About Bullying) 113

15 This Is All New …: (All About Crushes, Consent, Harassment, and Abuse) 121

16 In My Day, I Had to Walk Uphill Both Ways to Get a Book: (All About Technology) 128

17 All About Those Screens, 'Bout Those Screens: (All About Screen Time) 137

18 Wait, They Still Know More: (All About What?) 144

Resources 153

Tips for Kids and Trusted Adults 157

Acknowledgments 160

Notes 163

Index 178

Editorial Reviews

"A must-have puberty survival guidebook for tweens and teens, this is a perfect choice for collections in need of health titles that use gender-inclusive language." —SLJ, starred review

From the Publisher

2020-12-15
An inclusive and humorous approach to puberty, plus strategies for coming out of it your best self.

Body changes, body hair, acne, and sweat are just a few things adolescents will experience differently during puberty. Consistently using the terms assigned male and assigned female to describe physical development experienced in puberty determined by assigned birth sex, Loveless makes clear these factors don’t determine gender identity. Combining appropriate, scientific vocabulary and a conversational tone—reproduction is defined as a way to “create more human life through penis in vagina intercourse”—she doesn’t dumb down information. At the same time, she refers to some activities such as intercourse and childbirth as “adult acts” or “adult tasks,” keeping the book a safe space for younger readers. She represents understanding physiology as the foundation to successfully managing this time, but so is understanding the social and emotional factors such as gender expression and the effects of screen use. When discussing mental health, Loveless provides tools and resources in multiple places. With a focus on communication and building trust with caregivers, strategies for both youth and adults are integrated throughout, as are ways for supporting LGBTQ+ youth. There is some racial diversity in the few illustrations in the book. For some aspects of puberty like menstruation, this will serve more as an introduction than a comprehensive resource.

A handy guide to the squishy, sometimes sticky stages of puberty. (resources, source notes) (Nonfiction. 9-14)

Kirkus Reviews

★ 01/01/2021

Gr 5 Up—As confusing as puberty can be, it is a universal experience, Loveless explains. The text uses the terms "assigned female" and "assigned male" and also cites a variety of adult caregivers (such as uncles and foster parents) in examples throughout the text, making it an inclusive and thoroughly up-to-date resource. The first half of the book details the physical aspects of puberty and bodily changes, such as breast development, menstruation, ejaculation, hair growth, acne, and body odor. The second half takes a more whole-body approach and covers issues including gender identity and expression, mental health, nutrition, bullying, screen time, and consent. Using humorous yet straightforward language and a visually appealing layout that incorporates colorful text boxes and comic-book style illustrations, this title is engaging and infused with a body-positive message. Each chapter features a "Wait, They Know What About What?" section that focuses on an interesting study or area of research relating to the topic discussed (e.g., pheromones are responsible for the phenomenon whereby menstrual cycles sync up when people who are assigned female live together). A comprehensive list of resources is included. VERDICT A must-have puberty survival guidebook for tweens and teens, this is a perfect choice for collections in need of health titles that use gender-inclusive language.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

School Library Journal