It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families

by Robie H. Harris

Overview

How does a baby begin? What makes a baby male or female? How is a baby born? Children have plenty of questions about reproduction and babies — and about sex and sexuality, too. It’s So Amazing! provides the answers — with fun, accurate, comic-book-style artwork and a clear, lively text that reflects the interests of children age seven and up in how things work, while giving them a healthy understanding of their bodies. Created by the author and illustrator of It’s Perfectly Normal, this forthright and funny book has been newly updated for its fifteenth anniversary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763669980
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Series:	The Family Library
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Robie H. Harris says, "My challenge in writing IT'S SO AMAZING! was to weave the fascinating and complicated science facts about reproduction and birth into the story of the egg and the sperm, and to communicate to children in an honest and simple way how amazing this story really is!"

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

MEET THE BIRD AND THE BEE

Do You Know What I Read?

(1)

CURIOUS? EMBARRASSED?
CONFUSED?

So How Do Babies Really Begin?

Have you ever looked at your baby pictures?

Have you ever wondered where babies come from -- or how babies are made -- or where you came from -- or how you really began?

Everyone -- grandparents, parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and even teachers, firefighters, librarians, gymnasts, astronauts, dentists, scientists, cooks, nurses, shopkeepers, doctors, bus drivers, pilots, police officers, hockey players, mayors, and rock stars -- every person in the whole wide world was a baby once. The arrival of a new baby is so amazing! Most kids -- but not all -- are curious about how such an amazing and wonderful thing could possibly happen.

You may think that by now you already know -- or that you should know -- exactly how a baby is made. But even if your mom or dad has talked to you about this, or even if you and your friends have talked about it -- it's still perfectly normal to have questions about where babies come from. Talking with a parent, a doctor, a nurse, or a teacher is a good way to find out answers to your questions.

Sometimes you may feel very private about your questions and thoughts and feelings about how babies begin. Or it may feel embarrassing or hard to ask questions about making babies. Feeling curious about this, or embarrassed, or private, or even confused, is perfectlynormal. And having lots of questions about where babies come from is also perfectly normal.

Since the beginning of time, people young and old have tried to figure out where babies come from and how a baby is made. But how a baby is made is not a simple thing. That's why learning about it can be interesting and even fun -- no matter how old you are.

(2)

EGG + SPERM = BABY

Reproduction

When a new baby animal or plant is made, scientists call that "reproduction." To reproduce means "to make again" -- to make the same thing again.

Reproduction is how plants and animals make new plants and animals like themselves.

One fact about making a human baby is quite simple. It takes a sperm and an egg to make a baby.

Sperm and eggs are cells. In fact, all plants and animals -- including humans -- are made up of cells. And the human body is made up of millions and millions and millions of cells.

Sperm and eggs are the cells that can make a baby. The beginning cells of many animals -- but not all -- start to grow when an egg cell joins together with a sperm cell. This is the way humans make new babies. In fact, the beginning cells of a human baby can start to grow only when a sperm cell and an egg cell have joined together.

(3)

SAME AND DIFFERENT

Male -- Female

Another fact that's quite simple is that human babies -- like most other animals -- are born female or male. Girls and women are female. Boys and men are male.

Most parts of our bodies -- our toes, our fingers, our noses, our legs, our arms, our eyes, our hearts, our lungs, our stomachs, our buttocks -- are the same and look quite the same whether we are female or male.

The parts that are different are the parts that make each of us a female or a male. Some of these parts are on the outside of our bodies. Some are inside our bodies. Some are also the parts -- when a person's body grows up -- that can make a baby.

A male's sperm is needed to make a baby. Sperm are made in the male parts called "testicles." When a boy's body grows up, his two testicles will make an amazing amount of sperm -- about one hundred million to three hundred million each day.

A female's egg is needed to make a baby. Eggs are stored inside the female parts called "ovaries." When a baby girl is born, her two ovaries have all the eggs -- about one million to two million -- she will ever need to make a baby.

Although every boy is born with the parts that will make millions of sperm, and every girl is born with the parts that store millions of eggs, those parts cannot make a baby until a child's body has grown up. And that time is called "puberty."

Table of Contents

MEET THE BIRD AND THE BEE Do You Know What I Read?	4-5
(1) CURIOUS? EMBARRASSED? CONFUSED? So How Do Babies Really
Begin?	6-7
(2) EGG+SPERM=BABY Reproduction	8-9
(3) SAME AND DIFFERENT Male--Female	10-11
(4) GROWING UP Babies, Kids, Teenagers, Grownups	12-13
(5) WHAT'S INSIDE? WHAT'S OUTSIDE? Female Parts	14-15
(6) WHAT'S INSIDE? WHAT'S OUTSIDE? Male Parts	16-17
(7) THE AMAZING EGG TRIP What Do Eggs Do?	18-21
(8) THE AMAZING SPERM TRIP What Do Sperm Do?	22-25
(9) WHAT'S SEX? Female or Male--Loving--Making Love--Making
a Baby	26-29
(10) WHAT'S LOVE? Lots of Kinds of Love	30-33
(11) THE BIG RACE! Sperm and Egg Meet	34-39
(12) A WARM AND COZY WOMB Pregnancy	40-45
(13) FRESH FOOD! FRESH AIR! Growing and Staying Healthy	46-49
(14) STRETCH! PUNCH! KICK! HICCUP! BURP! The Growing Fetus	50-53
(15) TWINS AND MORE! Twins, Triplets, Quadruplets,
Quintuplets	54-55
(16) COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE! Birth	56-61
(17) WHAT MAKES YOU--YOU! Chromosomes and Genes--And Other
Things, Too!	62-63
(18) BECOMING A FAMILY By Birth--ByAdoption	64-67
(19) KEEPING SAFE "Okay Touches"--"Not Okay Touches"	68-71
(20) TALKING ABOUT IT HIV and AIDS	72-73
(21) GURGLES AND DROOLS Feelings about Babies--Fun with
Babies	74-75
(22) LET'S CELEBRATE! Happy Birth Day! Happy Adoption Day!	76-77
IT'S SO AMAZING! Still Talking!	78
THANK YOU SO MUCH!	79
INDEX	80-81

What People are Saying About This

Alvin F. Poussaint

From Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D., consultant to Bill Cosby for The Cosby Show and other projects and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

[A]n excellent resource on sex education for young children . . . A book every family should own.

T Berry Brazelton

From T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., author of Touchpoints

This thoughtful, innovative, and comprehensive book helps children with issues that are on their minds anyway—and gives all of us the language we need to share with them.

Perri Klass

From Perri Klass, M.D., Parenting contributing editor and Medical Director of Reach Out and Read

[P]rovides an opportunity for children to find answers to their questions, with clarity of explanation, fabulous illustrations, and humor, together with [its] all-important sense of wonder.

Penelope Leach

An amazingly upbeat and caring books ... totally 'child-friendly.'

Editorial Reviews

The creators of It's Perfectly Normal, targeted to middle-schoolers, here reach out to a slightly younger audience with candor and humor, neatly distilling various aspects of sex, reproduction and love. An inquisitive, loquacious bird and an embarrassed bee act as comic and straight man and serve as diverting foils to Harris's conversational narrative; kids will both identify with and chuckle at the two characters' reactions and asides. The duo's cheerful banter also clarifies some potentially confusing issues ("So the fetus doesn't grow where the pizza goes!" proclaims the newly enlightened bee). Specific topics covered include changes in boys' and girls' bodies during puberty, intercourse, birth control, chromosomes and genes, adoption and adjusting to a newborn sibling. The roster of experts in the closing acknowledgments speaks to the sensitivity and intelligence with which Harris and Emberley handle their treatment of masturbation, sexual abuse, HIV and AIDS and homosexuality. Emberley's artwork ranges from lighthearted cartoon panels of a talking sperm meeting up with an egg in the fallopian tube to straightforward drawings of reproductive organs and a developing fetus. With its informal yet informed perspective, this volume renders much "amazing" phenomena reassuringly comprehensible. Ages 7-up. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A few years ago, this team produced the acclaimed It's Perfectly Normal aimed at kids ages 11 and up. Now they have collaborated on a book that talks about eggs, sperm, birth, babies and families and have targeted it for a younger audience. The book never talks down, the language is accessible and the facts are fairly presented. Harris does not shy away from difficult topics such as homosexuality, HIV and AIDS. Two cartoon characters--a bird and a bee--guide kids through the discussions. There is plenty of humor and a multicultural cast. The subjects of where babies come from and what sex is may be difficult for adults to address, but with this book, they can either talk about the topics with kids or let kids read the book on their own. A good choice for families and libraries.

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

The text recognizes children's feelings and fears, and reassures, line by line, that they are always lovable and always loved, no matter what. Beyond biology, It's So Amazing! is finally about love, and that, we hope, is where babies come from.
—Colin Harrison

New York Times Book Review

This thoughtful, innovative, and comprehensive book helps children with issues that are on their minds anyway—and gives all of us the language we need to share with them.
—T. Berry Brazelton, MD, founder of Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Joshua Sparrow, MD, co-authors of “Touchpoints: Birth to Three” and “Touchpoints: Three to Six”

Even if your child hasn't reached puberty, talk with him or her about what lies ahead. If you'd like some help, check out the excellent picture book IT'S SO AMAZING! . . . It could help prepare your son or daughter - as well as reassure you.
—Time Magazine

It's a beauty; it's your privilege to use it. Enough said.
—Boston Globe

As a pediatrician, I know that children have many questions about reproduction, birth, bodies, babies, and families. Finding the answers, in a comfortable, appropriate, and interesting way, is an essential part of growing up healthy in body and mind. This book provides an opportunity for children to find answers to their questions with clarity of explanation, fabulous illustrations, and humor, together with an all-important sense of wonder.
—Perri Klass, MD, Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics, New York University

A cleverly illustrated guide to everything from adoption to zygotes.
—Child Magazine

Genuinely sweet, in a genre in which there’s a fairly despicable tendency to be edgy, brash, and cool, as if what kids can put out must be what they need from grownups.…sensible, even existential, answers…honest and tender drawings.
—The New Yorker

[A] friendly and sensitive guide for younger children . . . Harris throughout manages to leave no stone unturned in this thoughtful, intelligent, and most importantly, exuberant celebration of the creation and operation of children and adult bodies . . . Parents looking for a way to keep embarrassment to a minimum when discussing sexuality with their young children will appreciate this book.
—Horn Book, starred review, The

. . . this provides sensible, reassuring answers to readers' questions and concerns, and interrupts the rain of information with occasional silliness.
—Kirkus Reviews, pointered review

Indeed, IT'S SO AMAZING! is written and illustrated with such thought that a child can hide way and study it.
—New York Times, The

Another barrier-breaking contribution by Harris and Emberley that seamlessly bridges IT'S PERFECTLY NORMAL and HAPPY BIRTH DAY! . . . An essential guide that will delight and inform and appeal to young readers as well as adults.
—School Library Journal, starred review

A well-loved tool for many parents, and one that has made 'the talk' more fun and relevant.
—Planned Parenthood.org

Emberley illustrates the rich diversity of bodies in a breathtakingly matter-of-fact way.
—Wondertime magazine

It's accurate, non-judgmental and comprehensive, yet there's no danger of information overload because humor is used to leaven the seriousness of the topics presented.
—Syndicated Column - Lynne Burke

Bright, comic-style illustrations featuring a knowledgable bird and an embarrassed bee. . . . Clear subject headings make the text easy to browse.
—Book Links

From the Publisher

The 15th anniversary edition of this highly regarded—by pediatricians, professors, and parents—book on babies and where they come from has all of the important features of the first text. Information and visuals regarding new innovations in science and technology are a welcome addition. Twenty-two chapters of informational narrative cover everything from myths around babies and pregnancy to bringing the baby home from the hospital, and include brightly illustrated pictures of babies, parents and various processes as well as comic relief. Because this book is aimed at children and the types of questions they normally ask about pregnancy, sex, babies, and so on, chapters focus on the physical differences between girls and boys, how sperm and egg become a fetus, and the birth process. Additional chapters provide information on adoption, HIV, sex, and reproduction. The book also provides an extended thank you section that highlights the various experts who helped out with the book (and reinforces how well-researched the book is) as well as an index of terms that may be unfamiliar to elementary readers. As noted, the illustrations really add to this book, mainly for their realism and the humor found on every page as bird and bee chat and the varying babies, parents, and siblings on each page react to each other and what’s being discussed. This is a great text for any elementary library, pediatrician’s office or family library. Reviewer: Jean Boreen, Ph.D.; Ages 7 to 10.

Children's Literature - Jean Boreen