It's NOT the Stork!: A Book about Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends (review)

What's the "right" age at which to introduce information on human reproduction? Harris agrees that's for individual families to decide, and to give an assist to parents who feel "the younger, the better," she has abridged her presentation from It's So Amazing, BCCB 2/00 (itself pared down from It's Perfectly Normal, BCCB 10/94), for an even younger audience. Adults familiar with Amazing will note that the format remains pretty much the same, right down to the curious cartoon bird and reticent bee that trade quips on their newly acquired knowledge; language, however, is slightly simplified and tidbits of information are deleted (topics such as masturbation, homosexuality, and types of twins are introduced, but they receive less detailed treatment) to shorten the text by some twenty pages. Emberley's cartoon cast, a celebration of demographic diversity, do double duty as helpful diagrams of body parts and fetal development, and as examples of loving families in action. The developmental bridge between this title and Amazing is considerably shorter than the span between Amazing and Perfectly Normal, and although public libraries will certainly want to offer all three works, families looking for that one good book for their preschoolers might just as well trade up a level to Amazing for more complete information, and customize their readalouds to suit their own children's needs.