How Babies Are Made

"The" classic "first talk" book. I bought this for my special-needs son, who is 12. It's meant for a younger child, but he is only able to comprehend the basics so I felt this would be the perfect way to introduce the subject, as I'd attempted as "just talking" and it didn't seem to be sinking in. Basically, he is in middle school now, and although he's in a special needs class, I was worried he'd hear tall tales running around school, so I wanted him to have a basic knowledge coming from home first. It all went well, he grasped the concepts and as I recall from having been a very little girl, the "steps up" (flower...then chicken...then dog...then human) "eased" the subject along. There was a little bit of giggling but nothing unexpected. Concepts were as I remembered them: clear, and neither overly-babyish, nor too clinical and wordy. The artwork is lovely. Just lovely. And yes, it's fairly explicit at times, but in an "artsy" (cardboard cutouts) way, so...nothing that would make a squeamish child say "gross!" yet visually informative. I would absolutely recommend this book. I'd say it's geared toward elementary school-age children; any older and they've probably already heard it from their friends if you haven't managed to give "the talk" yet. As I said, we have a special circumstance, and this fit the bill beautifully in that regard, and rounded things out a bit for my nine-year-old as well (we'd already had a brief version of the talk several times).

I had this book when I was a child. The way this book is illustrated and written introduces the subject with little or no embarrassment or stress from the parents. I have always felt that the book was tasteful and showed enough to be medically truthful but not enough to be inappropriate. If the touchier parts or reproduction are illustrated with animals and plants. Extremely well done. I wish it was being republished. Children pick up on how uncomfortable a parent is when talking about the so called "Birds and the bees". This makes the whole process easier. Age appropriate for absolutely ANY age. The longer you wait the more difficult and uncomfortable a parent becomes. ***************** A Billion Stars for this Book! *****************

There are no strange things in the book. Just pure facts on how babies are made, starting from plants to animals to people. If you are like me and struggled to give an age appropriate talk to your kids, this book was excellent for helping me leave behind hang ups and give just the facts

A great sex-education book. Tastefully done with paper cut drawings. Starts with flowers, chickens, puppies and then people. Not very explicit with anatomy. Well done and appropriate for even younger ages. I used this book with my children when they were eight, to start explaining sex.

Last year, when my older son was 7, he started asking questions about where babies come from. I said, give me two days to get a book (I felt I needed a visual aid to really explain). I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of books and I'm SO GLAD I chose this one. Not only is it well written but it is so beautifully illustrated with 3D paper cut outs. I just love looking at it. Be aware, it is very frank in its description of the baby-making process. It begins with chickens, then puppies and then people. It shows the insides of the reproductive organs, as well as animals and people having sex (though the people are in bed and you don't see anything graphic.) However, as a person whose mother explained sex when I was 14(!), using only metaphors and euphemisms, I really appreciated the straight-forward nature of this book. I read this book to my 7 and 4 year old boys and they understood and liked it very much. It was easy to point to the pictures to answer their questions. In my opinion, when you make sex something secret and mysterious or embarrassing or taboo, you give it an allure of the forbidden which causes teenagers to want to explore it--perhaps before they are ready. If, on the other hand, sex is a natural part of life and is explained in a very matter-of-fact way, I do not think you are saying--now go out and do it! I think frank discussion demystifies it and puts it in its proper place--as an act of love between two mature people. Every parent has to decide what to tell (or not) to their children on this subject. However, as a child of someone who said almost nothing except DON'T, I can say that it didn't have the effect my mother desired. Anyway, excellent book. My kids really liked it. Easy to understand even for my four year old.

This book is completely nonthreatening and a great way to teach kids about conception. It starts with flowers and bees, progresses to puppies, and ends with humans. The illustrations aren’t claymation, but they’re something close to it. Just right for innocent minds that want to know.

I received this book as a gift from my sister when our older daughter was just under three, and I was expecting our second child. Having accompanied me on all our visits to the obstetrician, she began asking questions about how the baby got in there. As the oldest child in my family of origin, where the children are spaced about two years apart, I'd had all this explained to me before I started school, so I was very comfortable talking about it with our girls. I think this book is fantastic! It's scientifically accurate; but not inappropriately graphic (and not too detailed: no fallopian tubes, etc.). The illustrations are lovely paper cuttings. It also acknowledges the importance of love in the conception of a child. I have found that giving children this information when they are too young to see it as taboo avoids much of the awkwardness that comes with waiting until they are preteens or teenagers (or just leaving it to the sex-ed teacher). It also ensures that they get basic information from their parents instead of from their friends. Having taught preschool and early elementary for many years, I know that lots of young kids are already talking about sex. When each of our daughters was ready to start a family, I ordered a copy for her to share with her children. When the older boy (4 1/2) in the family with younger children began asking questions our daughter said, "I think it's time to break out 'How Babies are Made'. "

Oh, this book is perfect. We decided to capitalize on the four-year-old "no shame, wants to know everything" trend and go for it on starting sex ed. This book is delightful. I think they could have gone that extra step and shown more details about human sex (instead of two cheerful people with covers to their chins) but there is a comprehensive enough lead in that you can say that it's mostly like the dog example (except one instead of a litter, etc) and that's explicit enough to make sense. It's also helpful in terms of talking about how people like privacy for sex, unlike animals who don't care. My four year old was very worried about the eggs hurting the chickens, but didn't seem to make the leap to the pain of birthing a human -- just as well. I feel like every child should have a copy of this book. It is wonderful.