Talking about Sex with Girls and Boys - What's the Big Secret?

I love this book! I appreciate its matter-of-fact tone and the friendly, comfortable pictures, instantly recognizable as being drawn by Marc Brown, the author and illustrator of the Arthur series (very popular in our house). (The author of this book is Laurie Krasny Brown, his wife). I read it with my 8- and 10-year olds at the same time. There were some giggles, but also lots of interest, and good questions asked. My ten-year-old took it and read it again by himself when we finished. I was grateful to come across a book that so exactly suited my purposes, and would highly recommend this for helping with the "talk" with your tweeners. (Best for ages 7-12).

first few pages are decent and i thought might work to help talk about basics with my 4 year old. but then it gets into way too much detail...more like teen type info! crazy! glad i read this before showing to my little one. i've stored it away for a much later date!

My daughter has been asking more and more questions about the differences between boys and girls and about how babies grow (due in part to the number of family members who are currently pregnant). We answer her very frankly, and she seems satisfied with our responses; however, we thought it might be a good idea to read her a book that could perhaps show her some illustrations and present some information we might not have addressed fully, to clarify a little more.

This book is a pretty good attempt. While, I would have liked to have seen some more illustrations (sperm fertizing egg, the various stages of baby), and more detailed information on such issues as how twins are made, birth defects, c-sections, and more info about what occurs during a period; overall, I think this book is the best out there for her age. "Amazing You: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts" by Gail Saltz seemed too vague, and geared to younger children, and "It's So Amazing! A Book About Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families" by Robie H. Harris seemed a bit too in depth for my daughter.

I think "What's the Big Secret" works well for the preschool group. The illustrations are whimiscal, and it's written in a way that appeals to young kids. My daughter really seemed to like it.

This is an appropriate book for serious minded children. My boy (who was only five at the time but was precocious) wanted to understand how babies are created (that's how he phrased the question) and I wasn't able to fully answer his ever more deeply probing questions. He asked me to read this to him every night for two weeks. His questions were, finally, answered and, every few months he returned to the book to refresh his understanding. I was, personally, and given his age, uncomfortable with the section on masturbation, so I skipped it as that topic didn't apply to his questions about reproduction. He's now approaching eight years and the book continues to be an occasional resource. He's well-adjusted, happy and not afraid to ask questions. And, when he decides he wants to read it himself, I'm comfortable with what he'll find, masturbation and all.

This review is a slight revision of a comment I made on another reviewer's post.

We just sat down comfortably with my daughter and read it
Had fun with it
Took 20 minutes and that was the end of the questions. She is almost 9. She went on to her magazine, her curiosity satisfied.
Very clever book, loved it

This is a wonderfully illustrated, easy to understand, easy to read, unintimidating book. It's intended audience is Pre-School thru Grade 3 which I feel is critical information for anyone looking into buying this book. It is a wonderful book for those parents who want their children to learn at an early age the correct names of body parts and the basics of where babies come from. This book has been on my children's (ages 4-9) book shelf since the oldest one was two years old! It sits on the shelf right along-side all the other 100's of bedtime books. They go back to it time and time again either to read to themselves or to be read to. From the start they learned the accurate words for body parts, understand the basics, and take in more and more information/digest the information as they grow older. As the oldest (9) has questions she openly asks them. I either go over it again from the book or we talk openly. Parents who wait to discuss the topics until age 9 will find this book to be an untimidating first book -- very good. As the children grow older (puberty thru teens) I intend to add more detailed (less cartoonish illustrations) books to our discussions.

i purchased this book to help guide and facilitate our discussion on sex and all the things related to the topic. as a parent i felt that it was very tactful and purposeful in it's discussion. it bridged somethings that were important but maybe not in the forefront in our thought processes. i also feel this is more a book for family use and not as appropriate for institutional use due to the depth of the subject matter.

There are far too few good quality books about bodies and babies that one can read to young children, but as a sex educator this is one that I like to recommend. Well worth it - and it can help parents become comfortable talking to their kids about this challenging topics.

Great book. My only issue with it was the paragraph about masterbation. It makes it sound like it is okay. It's not. Also, I don't think vulva and clitoris are words that need to be included in a book for kids. There is especially no reason for a kid to know about a clitoris. I didn't know what it was until I was married. The rest of the book is great. The pictures are perfect for kids.

We feel it vital to teach our young children about such topics as soon as they are ready to fully understand them (age 8 in our opinion) and this we have done, but this particular book contains too many conflicting moral issues for us to use as a text to share with our children. A much better choice for our family was "Amazing You" and "Changing You". We had mild differences with these texts, but they proved to be great discussion starters with the children. "What's the Big Secret" went too far across vital moral lines for us to even consider using as discussion material. To each his own, but we wanted to post in case others wanted a heads-up.

Are we really ready to give our responsibility away as parents to authors and schools who want to give this book out to our children without notifying us? Some schools are already doing this without our persmission. If this book is used as a "tool" for parents to sit down and talk with our kids is one thing but to have it in the mainstream librarys for our kids to just sit down to read is another.

Younger children may need help reading this and explanations later. Although its not overly detaileeld and obviously designed for youngsters, the anatomy portion is too short and only a few pages. But, I guess that's enough for a young child. My grands are a tad more informed. I think more info could be given on hygiene, sexual protection and consequences, and abstention until older.