What kids need to know.
"It's Perfectly Normal" is an excellent sex education guide for older kids
and teenagers. It describes sex and sexuality frankly both in text and in
well-done cartoons. Only the most prudish would be offended by this book.

Everything you need to know
This book touches on more subjects than I had anticipated. I read the book with my daughter and at first I thought I would skip some areas, but know if my daughter does not hear it from me, she WILL hear it from someone else.

An outlooker comments
I'm concerned about some of the negative comment on this work. For example, sex will cause disease (without qualification.) If so, why doesn't it after a stable relationship, not necessarily marriage, is formed? If a parent writes this, then he/she is refuting his/her own argument. Why is he/she still alive after conceiving the child?
The abstinence ideal is only that - an ideal. Some keep to it (I did), others don't. The fear of death can't fight hormones. Teach sense, not blunt abstinence. Changes will be occurring anyway with puberty. Do you imagine young people don't notice? My first sex lesson, many years ago, I still remember: it was written, in crude terms, in crayon on a wall. I couldn't believe it, and didn't ask my parents. Consequence of ignorance: I was male-raped years later. I'd never had a girlfriend. My later marriage failed, again through overbearing religious creeds, preaching what was plainly total nonsense.
If it's open, so much the better. Are parents afraid of the subject? Mine were - with the above results. I didn't know, at 25, male rape was possible, and walked straight into a trap. What's so frightening about truth and fact, about openness? And above all, ditch one thing: moralising. Nature, like me, has no time for it and its rantings.

Porno for Kids
I checked out this book for my 17 year old son who was writing a paper on puberty. Most of the text content is great but the pictures are pornographic cartoons. I also have an 11 year old son and was planning on letting him read it. Once I reviewed it, it went straight into my car to be returned to the library. As far as the text goes, most of it was pretty informative and well written for the preteen age group but there were also plenty of references (with lots of pictures) of masturbation, homosexuality, etc. that were way too graphic for anyone under the age of 16 years. Fair warning here: don't buy it for any innocent kids especially ones that don't know anything at all!

GREAT BOOK !
It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health (Robie Sex Books)
As the title states "growing up", that's what these people who give this book a poor rating should do. If you want your child properly prepared for the world ahead of them, this is the book. It clearly, and in a very cute way, states FACTS ! Of course, I want my children to grow up heterosexual, as I am. Of course I want my children to have a "healthy & proper" sex life ahead of them. THAT IS WHY I BOUGHT THIS BOOK. We cannot control who or what our children will become, we can only GUIDE them correctly, and let them know that THEY are okay, no matter "who" they are. When they enter the teen/adult years, this world will be twice as insane and confusing as when we did. Knowledge is POWER ! Yes, I wish life was easier and more carefree, as when I was a child; but many years of law enforcement (not metro/ but suburban & rural) have proven that kind of life no longer exists. These sheltered, simple minded, negative rating people, have NO clue as to not who, but WHAT, wanders among our children. No, I don't agree with every single thing portrayed in the book, but that's why I will tell my children to ASK, ASK, ASK, if you have ???'s, as I will ask them ???'s. This book is for an educated, informed, alert; parent who wants to give their child the freedom to learn & explore, health & sexuality. Let's give our children the POWER of knowledge & understanding to help them with their decisions. The book covers just about every aspect of sexuality, reproduction, health, emotions, etc. Much of the contents is nearly identical to the AMA versions, but in a friendlier atmosphere. I won't have my 9 year old daughter reading it for awhile, that's why I purchased "The Body Book for Girls"; but I'm sure my 13 year old son will find "It's Perfectly Normal," to be perfectly normal by our family values. Good luck everyone through this tough phase of parenting, as we try to REALLY prepare our children for the real world.