It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends by Robie H. Harris, Michael Emberley (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

From the expert team behind IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL and IT'S SO AMAZING! comes a book for younger children about their bodies — a resource that parents, teachers, librarians, health care providers, and clergy can use with ease and confidence.

Young children are curious about almost everything, especially their
bodies. And young children are not afraid to ask questions. What makes
me a girl? What makes me a boy? Why are some parts of girls' and boys'
bodies the same and why are some parts different? How was I made?
Where do babies come from? Is it true that a stork brings babies to
mommies and daddies?

IT'S NOT THE STORK! helps answer these endless and perfectly normal questions that preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school children ask about how they began. Through lively, comfortable language and sensitive, engaging artwork, Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley
address readers in a reassuring way, mindful of a child's healthy desire
for straightforward information. Two irresistible cartoon characters, a
curious bird and a squeamish bee, provide comic relief and give voice to
the full range of emotions and reactions children may experience while
learning about their amazing bodies. Vetted and approved by science,
health, and child development experts, the information is up-to-date,
age-appropriate, and scientifically accurate, and always aimed at helping
kids feel proud, knowledgeable, and comfortable about their own bodies,
about how they were born, and about the family they are part of.

Publishers Weekly

A welcome addition to their oversize- format series about where humans come from and how they grow, It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends by Robie H. Harris, illus. by Michael Emberley, addresses common questions raised by children. In Emberley's usual friendly style, cartoon panels illustrate "the big swim" of the sperm to the egg, while on another spread, clear diagrams of a boy and girl illustrate their different body parts. An excellent introduction to babies' origins for youngest curious minds. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

From the award-winning author/illustrator team that has helped families and young kids find answers to questions about puberty, bodies, and healthy sexuality in earlier books, comes this volume designed to address those endless and perfectly normal questions that preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary school children like to ask about how they began. The tone of the text is lively and the language used is age-appropriate, accurate, and comfortably understandable. In fact, the entirety of this nonfiction title has been reviewed—and endorsed—by science, health, and child development experts. The illustrations are colorful and expressive, providing a cheery counterbalance to the fact-filled story of conception and birth. Two charming cartoon characters, a curious bird and a squeamish bee, provide comic relief as well as give voice to a full range of emotions and reactions that children in the real world may experience while learning about the amazing human body's reproductive system and cycles. The illustrator makes good use of conversation balloons to present their dialogue and thoughts, plus uses lots of sidebars to present complex concepts, which results in a visually exciting book that is easy to use, too. The chapters are small and specific, and there's a comprehensive index in the back detailing all the topics covered. Families can use this expansive hardcover picture book with ease and confidence.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-Harris opens by introducing two cartoon characters-a green-feathered bird clad in a purple shirt and blue high-top sneakers and his spike-haired friend, a bee. They wonder, "So where DO babies come from?" Their conversational commentary, given in word balloons, is a lighthearted supplement to a more focused narrative. Told in the second person, the text is straightforward, informative, and personable. Facts are presented step-by-step, starting from the similarities and differences between boys' and girls' bodies, moving to a baby's conception, growth in the womb, and birth, ending with an exploration of different configurations of families as well as a section on "okay" versus "not okay" touches. The book is logically organized into 23 double-page sections. Friendly and relaxed cartoons, either interspersed with the text or appearing in comic-strip form, are integral to the title's success in imparting the material. The labeled drawings show both the outside and the inside parts of the body. As the bee and bird say to one another, "Knowing the names of ALL the parts of your body is-PERFECTLY NORMAL!" Overall, this book will be accessible to its intended audience, comforting in its clarity and directness, and useful to a wide range of readers.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Harris and Emberley's trademark bird and bee return to help harried parents explain to their preschoolers and early elementary-aged children just exactly where babies come from. Opening with a dialogue that features a number of myths about procreation, the narrative then delivers what readers of It's So Amazing! (1999) and It's Perfectly Normal (1994) have come to expect: frank, age-appropriate discussions of topics that can send the unprepared parent screaming from the room. From the differences and similarities between boys and girls, to a preview of puberty, to conception, pregnancy and birth, Harris's reassuring text and Emberley's cheerfully lumpy cartoons hold the reader's hand through question after question. Concluding chapters explore physical and emotional boundaries, "okay touches" and "not okay touches," and the many different permutations of the modern family unit. Far too long for a bedtime read-aloud, this volume is well-suited for browsing, reference and independent examination. Although it is primarily aimed at young readers, the clarity and candor of the presentation will ensure its usefulness to older elementary children with limited reading skills. A happy addition to the Harris-Emberley family. (Nonfiction. 4-11)

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