Learning and Growing! (It's Perfectly Normal)
Harris, R. (2009) It’s Perfectly Normal. Boston,
MA: Candlewick Press
This nonfiction book is about the
changes in adolescent body and in their life.
The first topic it dives into is sex.
Of course, that’s what many of its readers are going to want to know
about first. It gives description of
many definitions of sex and explains how babies are made. It also discusses different types of
relationships.
Next the book describes the
body. It identifies parts of the body
for both boys and girls. Then it goes
into the changes one might expect in their body. It gives biological descriptions of
menstration, ovarian cycles, and how sperm travel.
Next section is all about
babies. It describes in more detail how
the babies are made. It goes into the
process of pregnancy and birth. The book
also goes into different types of families and different ways to obtain a
child. The book also goes into the
different ways to avoid having a baby, and the different views on birth control.
The last part is all about staying
healthy. The book talks about sexual
abuse and how to confront it. Sexually
Transmitted Infections are also discussed, and how to prevent them. The very last chapter, sums it all up by
discussing the need to make responsible choices.
This Is a very good book for
having “the talk”. I wish I had
something like this when I was going through puberty myself. In fact, I still learned some things I didn’t
know while reading it today! In many
chapters you’ll have the same thing described, for example ejaculation. I think that is important because many kids
who pick this up may just skim, or skip to the chapters they want to read. By repeating information, they ensure that
any reader is going to receive that information. I also like how the roots of many of the
words are explained. Given that many of
these words don’t sound like any others in the English language, knowing their
Greek or Latin roots can help explain them.
The book is quite similar to another by Robie Harris, It’s So Amazing!. That one is for a slightly younger audience
though. Both books do their job well.
I read this book because it is one
of my required readings.
Comments
Post a Comment