This will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows anything about me, but let me clarify that I describe Robie Harris's It's Perfectly Normal as "controversial" because, technically, it is true: It has caused a lot of controversy, frequently hitting the top ten list of most-challenged books, inspiring hysterical accusations of its being child porn, and generating publicity stunts like that of the woman in Lewiston, Maine, who checked it out and refused to return it because it was "amoral" (generating such attention that the library had to order several more copies. I love—kinda—book banners).
But I do not think that the content is (or at least ought to be) particularly controversial.
It is a comprehensive, well-researched, much-vetted book on puberty, sex, reproduction, and sexual/emotional health and safety. In short, exactly what far too many of our kids don't have access to. Which doesn't mean I don't see where the ideological buttons are getting pushed: It presents various sexual orientations as normal, discusses abortion without condemning it, and gives all the cautionary information necessary for sexual decisionmaking without preaching about timing per se. And yes, it contains tasteful, educational, yet light-hearted line drawings of naked kids and teens, and also of couples in bed (under covers!). It is, after all, a book about (1) how bodies change at puberty and (2) explaining the very basics of some of what people do in bed. Some of us don't learn so well by text alone.
Perhaps less on the usual radar about It's Perfectly Normal are two characters—a bird and a bee—who appear through out the book representing the voices of a curious teen who's eager to grow up and one for whom all this information is a bit much and feels a little uncomfortable. I found it all this joking a bit hokey on first read, but I'm not the target audience. And after a bit of relflection, I could see that the point of their banter was to subtly say to kids reading it, "It's OK if you're not ready to think about this much yet (and it's OK if you're really curious)." That's a level of nuanced thoughtfulness and consideration that the sexphobic abstinence people rarely muster.
Of course by the time some of our kids are old enough for It's Perfectly Normal, that bird and bee will be old friends from It's Not the Stork (ages 4 and up) and It's So Amazing (7 and up), which are quite similar, but with less detail and covering fewer topics in developmentally appropriate ways. I am particularly grateful for the pages devoting to debunking gender stereotypes at the beginning of It's Not the Stork, before the book dives into the anatomy lesson covering what the actual differences are.
I have critiques too (also no shocker to many of you, I'm sure). Particularly, I think that the gender stereotyping in the cartoon version of the sperm and egg meeting (in each book) are overdone, to the point of actually being somewhat untrue to the biology. I think the care to not offend anyone leaves kids with no explanation that breastfeeding is normal or why formula is sometimes used. Then again, they don't need to know very much about that. These are, in the end, small things.
I'm thrilled that these books continue to be updated (the 15th anniv. edition of It's Perfectly Normal is due out this fall), and I hope we're moving toward a time when they can gain the popularity they deserve.
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