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You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Things
A completely new approach to learning about puberty, sex, and gender for kids 10+. Here is the much-anticipated third book in the trilogy that started with the award-winning What Makes a Baby and Sex Is a Funny Word.
In a bright graphic format featuring four dynamic middle schoolers, You Know, Sex grounds sex education in social justice, covering not only the big three of puberty—hormones, reproduction, and development—but also power, pleasure, and how to be a decent human being.
Centering young people’s experiences of pressures and joy, risk and reward, and confusion and discovery, there are chapters on body autonomy, disclosure, stigma, harassment, pornography, trauma, masturbation, consent, boundaries and safety in our media-saturated world, puberty and reproduction that includes trans, non-binary, and intersex bodies and experience, and more.
Racially and ethnically diverse, inclusive of cross-disability experience, this is a book for every kind of young person and every kind of family.
You Know, Sex is the first thoroughly modern sex ed book for every body navigating puberty and adolescence, essential for kids, everyone who knows a kid, and anyone who has ever been a kid.
In a bright graphic format featuring four dynamic middle schoolers, You Know, Sex grounds sex education in social justice, covering not only the big three of puberty—hormones, reproduction, and development—but also power, pleasure, and how to be a decent human being.
Centering young people’s experiences of pressures and joy, risk and reward, and confusion and discovery, there are chapters on body autonomy, disclosure, stigma, harassment, pornography, trauma, masturbation, consent, boundaries and safety in our media-saturated world, puberty and reproduction that includes trans, non-binary, and intersex bodies and experience, and more.
Racially and ethnically diverse, inclusive of cross-disability experience, this is a book for every kind of young person and every kind of family.
You Know, Sex is the first thoroughly modern sex ed book for every body navigating puberty and adolescence, essential for kids, everyone who knows a kid, and anyone who has ever been a kid.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2022
76 people are currently reading
850 people want to read
About the author
Cory Silverberg
7 books149 followersRaised in the 1970s by a children's librarian and a sex therapist, Cory Silverberg grew up to be a sex educator, an author, and queer person who smiles a lot when they talk. Cory received a master's degree in education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
Cory is the co-author of four books, including the ALA Stonewall Honor Book Sex Is a Funny Word, What Makes a Baby, and most recently, You Know, Sex, all with Fiona Smyth. Their life is full of kids. All of them know where babies come from. Some know more.
Cory is the co-author of four books, including the ALA Stonewall Honor Book Sex Is a Funny Word, What Makes a Baby, and most recently, You Know, Sex, all with Fiona Smyth. Their life is full of kids. All of them know where babies come from. Some know more.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
December 27, 2022
This book is so excellent. From a health educator perspective, the information is accurate and presented in a really accessible way.
My only complaint is that the use of bright, saturated colors throughout every page is really difficult to look at for long periods of reading. It’s a bit of a visual overload.
My only complaint is that the use of bright, saturated colors throughout every page is really difficult to look at for long periods of reading. It’s a bit of a visual overload.
July 19, 2022
Amazing book. Respect for middle-schoolers, their experiences, their feelings, their intelligence, and their ability to think through complex things comes through in every chapter. Despite having the word sex in the title, very little of this book was explicitly about what most of us probably think of as "sex", like physical sexual acts involving the bodies of two (or more) people. You Know, Sex is about: our bodies, our feelings, how we feel about our bodies, how we feel and think about ourselves, how we want to be treated by other people, how we treat other people, communication, messing up, apologizing, touch, boundaries, trust...and a lot of other stuff.
I appreciate that this book is generally very sensitive to the idea that relationships, sex, and feelings about sex can take many forms, and, so long as there is trust, respect, and consent from all involved, there is no "better" or "worse" when it comes to sex, including interest/desire to participate in it. The only tiny thing I objected to in this book is the use of "more than friend" to describe an apparently sexual relationship on p266. "More" sounds a lot like "better" and I think the label "more than friend" reinforces the ubiquitous and usually unchallenged belief that relationships that include sex and romance are higher up on some made-up relationship hierarchy than those that do not. I'm not saying the term should be excluded, because "more than friends" is an expression that people use a lot (well idk what the kids are saying these days), but it would be good to make explicit the implications, as they do so well with many other expressions.
I found the use of first-person plural pronouns throughout the book subtly very powerful. It seemed to bring in many groups/identities that are often marginalized or relegated to a footnote or special section in a sex ed book, and just make everyone part of "all of us". Not that this book shies away from discussing difference, power, privilege. Reading a long chapter on gender, for example, can be helpful for everyone, not only people who do not identify as cisgender (a label that has its own issues, they point out in the glossary), because gender is a big part of everyone's life and sense of self even if we don't stop to consider it very much.
Some of the quotes I found especially amazing:
Feeling like we aren't right or aren't enough is exhausting. It can leave us feeling like an alien or like a "thing," not a person at all.
Do you have your own reasons for trying sex? It doesn't matter what they are, but they should be your own, not someone else's. (369)--very connected to the concept of sexual projects in Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus
The big lie of virginity is that it defines us. If using the word virgin for ourselves is helpful, that's great. But if we use it to make other people feel like there is something wrong with them, that's not okay.--could apply to the concept of labels in general: if using a particular term or label for ourselves is helpful, great, but labeling other people is often a way of exerting power over them and is often not okay.
Adults can forget how hard it is to survive being a kid. And you're right, a lot of what happens in the halls and outside school, could be considered harassment. But just because it happens a lot doesn't make it okay.
From the chapter on stigma:
When we feel embarrassed of our bodies and minds, most of us think that the problem is us. We think that we should feel ashamed because we're different and we're not what other people think of as normal. [...] But we are not the problem. The problem is that some differences are treated as bad, and stigmatized, and other differences are considered good.
What is the word for when you like someone but you don't like their taste in music?
I appreciate that this book is generally very sensitive to the idea that relationships, sex, and feelings about sex can take many forms, and, so long as there is trust, respect, and consent from all involved, there is no "better" or "worse" when it comes to sex, including interest/desire to participate in it. The only tiny thing I objected to in this book is the use of "more than friend" to describe an apparently sexual relationship on p266. "More" sounds a lot like "better" and I think the label "more than friend" reinforces the ubiquitous and usually unchallenged belief that relationships that include sex and romance are higher up on some made-up relationship hierarchy than those that do not. I'm not saying the term should be excluded, because "more than friends" is an expression that people use a lot (well idk what the kids are saying these days), but it would be good to make explicit the implications, as they do so well with many other expressions.
I found the use of first-person plural pronouns throughout the book subtly very powerful. It seemed to bring in many groups/identities that are often marginalized or relegated to a footnote or special section in a sex ed book, and just make everyone part of "all of us". Not that this book shies away from discussing difference, power, privilege. Reading a long chapter on gender, for example, can be helpful for everyone, not only people who do not identify as cisgender (a label that has its own issues, they point out in the glossary), because gender is a big part of everyone's life and sense of self even if we don't stop to consider it very much.
Some of the quotes I found especially amazing:
Feeling like we aren't right or aren't enough is exhausting. It can leave us feeling like an alien or like a "thing," not a person at all.
Do you have your own reasons for trying sex? It doesn't matter what they are, but they should be your own, not someone else's. (369)--very connected to the concept of sexual projects in Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus
The big lie of virginity is that it defines us. If using the word virgin for ourselves is helpful, that's great. But if we use it to make other people feel like there is something wrong with them, that's not okay.--could apply to the concept of labels in general: if using a particular term or label for ourselves is helpful, great, but labeling other people is often a way of exerting power over them and is often not okay.
Adults can forget how hard it is to survive being a kid. And you're right, a lot of what happens in the halls and outside school, could be considered harassment. But just because it happens a lot doesn't make it okay.
From the chapter on stigma:
When we feel embarrassed of our bodies and minds, most of us think that the problem is us. We think that we should feel ashamed because we're different and we're not what other people think of as normal. [...] But we are not the problem. The problem is that some differences are treated as bad, and stigmatized, and other differences are considered good.
What is the word for when you like someone but you don't like their taste in music?
December 9, 2022
This is an excellent resource for kids and parents. It covers: bodies (boundaries, autonomy, privacy), gender, puberty, feelings, consent, talking about sex, relationships, reproduction, touching, and safety.
I read this with my 12-year-old and it sparked lots of important conversations and questions.
Now that we've read through the whole thing out loud together, I think it will serve as a handy reference moving forward for future discussions and questions.
This book is thorough, thoughtful and exceptionally progressive. There were some takes that didn't totally work for me but opened my mind to new perspectives.
I read this with my 12-year-old and it sparked lots of important conversations and questions.
Now that we've read through the whole thing out loud together, I think it will serve as a handy reference moving forward for future discussions and questions.
This book is thorough, thoughtful and exceptionally progressive. There were some takes that didn't totally work for me but opened my mind to new perspectives.
April 14, 2022
Clear, thorough, sensitive, and inclusive. The book we wish we had as kids!
July 27, 2022
Amazing!
This emphasized two things a lot that I thought we're great: it's normal and OK for what you like, who you are, etc. to change; and that it's OK to not feel strongly about things, including sex and the book itself. I liked how in the sex-ed classroom scenes someone was always sleeping.
This was admirably exhaustive, but there were a few things that I thought could have been given more space. And occasionally I felt like the same exact thing had been discussed earlier — perhaps an unavoidable issue with trying to organize many topics into a few categories.
This emphasized two things a lot that I thought we're great: it's normal and OK for what you like, who you are, etc. to change; and that it's OK to not feel strongly about things, including sex and the book itself. I liked how in the sex-ed classroom scenes someone was always sleeping.
This was admirably exhaustive, but there were a few things that I thought could have been given more space. And occasionally I felt like the same exact thing had been discussed earlier — perhaps an unavoidable issue with trying to organize many topics into a few categories.
May 1, 2022
I bought this book for my teenagers, but I started reading it last night and was hooked. It doesn’t start with body parts but with the concepts of respect and trust and power and joy. Amazing. I nearly cried, to be honest. So much love and thoughtfulness has gone into this book, and it shows. I wish I’d had this book or something like it when I was a kid. Can I give it six stars??
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July 28, 2022When I evaluate sex education and puberty books, I mainly consider three things: accuracy of information, inclusivity of content, and whether or not I would have found them helpful when I was a child. Based on that criteria, this book is wonderful, but. It was accurate (aside from the thing I am about to address), it was inclusive, and above all it is helpful. The things you want to know without wanting to ask? They're here! The things you never even thought to ask about? They're here too! This book is wonderful!
And now for the but. This book is wonderful, but I didn't appreciate the way they framed bisexuality as excluding anyone who falls outside the gender binary; that is an antiquated and, frankly, harmful way to describe this orientation. I am bi; I am attracted to people of my gender and people of other genders. This includes nonbinary people. This includes genderqueer people. This includes literally all of the people no matter what their gender identity is. It is an inclusive orientation! For all of the things that the authors got right in this book -- and that is like basically everything else, and the book covers a very broad scope so they got a lot very very very right -- it was kiiiiiiiind of upsetting to see my orientation reduced to "into both men and women" when I (and every other bi person I know) feel attraction outside of the gender binary as well.
Also I wish they had included a sentence about how monogamy and polygamy are relationship structures because framing them as "stories" was a bit confusing to me, but YMMV. I just... wasn't sure what they were trying to say about being monogamous? It would have been much simpler to just say "People who seek out monogamous relationships want to have one friend+ at a time" or something.
Other than that, A+ for everything. It was a joy to read.
And now for the but. This book is wonderful, but I didn't appreciate the way they framed bisexuality as excluding anyone who falls outside the gender binary; that is an antiquated and, frankly, harmful way to describe this orientation. I am bi; I am attracted to people of my gender and people of other genders. This includes nonbinary people. This includes genderqueer people. This includes literally all of the people no matter what their gender identity is. It is an inclusive orientation! For all of the things that the authors got right in this book -- and that is like basically everything else, and the book covers a very broad scope so they got a lot very very very right -- it was kiiiiiiiind of upsetting to see my orientation reduced to "into both men and women" when I (and every other bi person I know) feel attraction outside of the gender binary as well.
Also I wish they had included a sentence about how monogamy and polygamy are relationship structures because framing them as "stories" was a bit confusing to me, but YMMV. I just... wasn't sure what they were trying to say about being monogamous? It would have been much simpler to just say "People who seek out monogamous relationships want to have one friend+ at a time" or something.
Other than that, A+ for everything. It was a joy to read.
December 2, 2023
Bought a copy for my daughter, who is age appropriately pretty uninterested and awkward about discussing this stuff, so I am taking a page from my folks' book, and just leaving good scholarship around for her to reference when she's comfortable doing it...and just being an open resource if she has questions or wants to talk.
I'll say about the book, having grown up reading my folks conveniently left around, "our bodies, our selves" in my house this "You know, sex" book was MUCH more accesible and written in a tone for the age I was when trying to decipher Our Bodies. So I am super happy to have all the more modern mature considerations about gender, sexuality and consent really explored in a non-threatening way. The illustrations and example dialogue, representation and willingness to be honest with fundamentals like knowledge of self, was excellent.
I'll say about the book, having grown up reading my folks conveniently left around, "our bodies, our selves" in my house this "You know, sex" book was MUCH more accesible and written in a tone for the age I was when trying to decipher Our Bodies. So I am super happy to have all the more modern mature considerations about gender, sexuality and consent really explored in a non-threatening way. The illustrations and example dialogue, representation and willingness to be honest with fundamentals like knowledge of self, was excellent.
October 30, 2023
Cream of the crop resource for preteens, teens, and their families.
If you are looking for one book to get the middle schooler or early high schooler in your life, this is it.
If you are looking for one book to get the middle schooler or early high schooler in your life, this is it.
August 23, 2022
Fantastic book. If I could give one light criticism, it is perhaps slightly too long. My household is firmly in pre-teen era and I worry it's too much to hold the kid's interest. Maybe some tabs in a future edition? In any case, I think it says a lot about the state of sex ed that I still learn something new every time I read a book from Cory Silverberg.
June 2, 2025
This was incredibly comprehensive and nuanced! I have already used this in my work as a therapist with adolescent and young adult clients--really great for informing and empowering people of all ages! Definitely would have been helpful to have a resource like this in middle and high school.
August 22, 2025
I do really love the spirit of the book, but it's definitely way too much information all at once for my particular tween.
And I've had to take off an entire star! I will never actually be giving this to them, (until they're 18) because I find the depiction of "having a smart phone/their own laptop/unrestricted internet access" as a social given that isn't even questioned incredibly irresponsible (especially in a book that discussed ableism and classism!) The phones even look like part of the bodies sometimes. To me, that's an absolute deal breaker.
****There is no point in trying to educate kids about social justice if there is not a single word on how dangerous and hateful social media and the internet can be.****
Phones and computers aren't body parts. Kids don't *have* to be on social media. Unrestricted internet access is bad enough for grown adults; it's proven to be terrible for developing kids' brains.
So while the author's hearts are in the right place, this book isn't going to be appropriate for all teenagers. I'd like to think that any parent/guardian would read a sex Ed book thoroughly before they gave it to their kid/s but still...
- I was a little annoyed at the lip service paid to ableism - everyone in our family is neurodivergent and some have disabilities. This book's art and format will be a problem if you/kids have sensory difficulties/ trouble reading long chunks of text/ difficultly following the split narrative/ graphic novel style. The drawings are incredibly bright, abstract and harsh, and much of the text is set against colours that make it difficult to read. The imagery is very hipster-style, slightly psychedelic and non-realistic - and with such a large format it quickly became overwhelming for me.
If you're thinking of this for a kid with ASD or ADHD, keep in mind this might be sensory overload.
- It's less a book about sex and consent than it is about a certain political/personal attitude. If your kid/teen is already interested in a social justice take on life, this could be great for them. If they have questions about gender identity, same. But this book assumes a certain amount of knowledge about (some) not-yet-mainstream ideas that they might not be ready for.
Topics like non-monogamous relationships, sex work as a regular job, hookup culture (it's very US centric as well) aren't what my 12 year old ASD kid needs to know the details of just yet (obviously this might vary for who you're buying for.)
The illustrations being so abstract might be a problem too; for example, a teen's reflection in a mirror as they're being questioned about the bathroom shows them as a kind of angry monster. As a neurotypical adult, this makes perfect sense; for a kid on the spectrum who takes things literally, it's going to be confusing at best and distressing at worst.
So I'm still searching for a good book on consent and boundaries for teens and tweens on the spectrum. For our kid, this isn't a good fit. The ideas are good on the whole, but the presentation isn't as accessible as it should be, which is disappointing.
And I've had to take off an entire star! I will never actually be giving this to them, (until they're 18) because I find the depiction of "having a smart phone/their own laptop/unrestricted internet access" as a social given that isn't even questioned incredibly irresponsible (especially in a book that discussed ableism and classism!) The phones even look like part of the bodies sometimes. To me, that's an absolute deal breaker.
****There is no point in trying to educate kids about social justice if there is not a single word on how dangerous and hateful social media and the internet can be.****
Phones and computers aren't body parts. Kids don't *have* to be on social media. Unrestricted internet access is bad enough for grown adults; it's proven to be terrible for developing kids' brains.
So while the author's hearts are in the right place, this book isn't going to be appropriate for all teenagers. I'd like to think that any parent/guardian would read a sex Ed book thoroughly before they gave it to their kid/s but still...
- I was a little annoyed at the lip service paid to ableism - everyone in our family is neurodivergent and some have disabilities. This book's art and format will be a problem if you/kids have sensory difficulties/ trouble reading long chunks of text/ difficultly following the split narrative/ graphic novel style. The drawings are incredibly bright, abstract and harsh, and much of the text is set against colours that make it difficult to read. The imagery is very hipster-style, slightly psychedelic and non-realistic - and with such a large format it quickly became overwhelming for me.
If you're thinking of this for a kid with ASD or ADHD, keep in mind this might be sensory overload.
- It's less a book about sex and consent than it is about a certain political/personal attitude. If your kid/teen is already interested in a social justice take on life, this could be great for them. If they have questions about gender identity, same. But this book assumes a certain amount of knowledge about (some) not-yet-mainstream ideas that they might not be ready for.
Topics like non-monogamous relationships, sex work as a regular job, hookup culture (it's very US centric as well) aren't what my 12 year old ASD kid needs to know the details of just yet (obviously this might vary for who you're buying for.)
The illustrations being so abstract might be a problem too; for example, a teen's reflection in a mirror as they're being questioned about the bathroom shows them as a kind of angry monster. As a neurotypical adult, this makes perfect sense; for a kid on the spectrum who takes things literally, it's going to be confusing at best and distressing at worst.
So I'm still searching for a good book on consent and boundaries for teens and tweens on the spectrum. For our kid, this isn't a good fit. The ideas are good on the whole, but the presentation isn't as accessible as it should be, which is disappointing.
September 24, 2025
My 10-year-old got through a little more than half of this book with me before abandoning it for other options, which is honestly pretty good for reading a book with your mom about puberty and sex. I finally went back and finished the book on my own, as even for parents/caregivers it provides good ideas for how to talk about difficult topics. I think everything Silverberg and Smyth put out is stellar — well researched, inclusive, accessible, and honest without being overwhelming. In addition to covering the facts about puberty, reproduction, and so on, Silverberg places a big emphasis on communication, respect, autonomy, trust, justice, and all the other aspects of relationships that get glossed over in traditional sex ed. They allow for expansive definitions of relationships and acknowledge that not everyone is interested in sex and that can be totally normal. I would highly recommend this book for everyone 10 and up.
June 8, 2022
This book is what schools need to look at when reforming their sexual education and relationships curriculum. It is inclusive, easy to read but not sugarcoating anything, and most of all, it is thorough. Not only does it cover the basics of puberty, sex, sexual orientation etc. It also goes in depth into issues surrounding body autonomy, gender, consent and boundaries, masturbation, and so many more vital topics - in a 21st century manner.
Aside from the sex-positive conversation, it also contains topics we are less inclined to discuss with children. This book handles sexual assault, harassment, and stigma in a way that conveys the point thoroughly and relevant in todays technological age (dangers of online communication etc)
Lastly, the book has a list of resources at the end which is particularly useful for further understanding and clarification.
August 5, 2022
I knew going into this that it had some ideas that I would disagree with, but I wanted to keep an open mind. After hearing the author in an interview, I was encouraged that it was written, at least, from the target audience's point of view rather than an adult's. I suppose it met that particular mark, but otherwise...just no. Aesthetically, I couldn't handle the colors or the artwork in general, though I think that presenting it as a graphic novel is genius for this age group. I appreciated some of the perspectives that were presented, but overall, the content was not at all what I would want my kids to read.
November 24, 2025
4.5 rounded up to 5
Whew, I wish I’d had this book when I was a middle schooler. Absolutely loved reading it to my 6th grader and would recommend to any parents of middle schoolers. The only thing I wanted more of was STI discussion, but that wasn’t a focus of the book. This is for all the parents who are healing from purity culture trauma by making sure their own kids are educated about sex, gender, and sexuality in a positive, shame-free manner.
Whew, I wish I’d had this book when I was a middle schooler. Absolutely loved reading it to my 6th grader and would recommend to any parents of middle schoolers. The only thing I wanted more of was STI discussion, but that wasn’t a focus of the book. This is for all the parents who are healing from purity culture trauma by making sure their own kids are educated about sex, gender, and sexuality in a positive, shame-free manner.
August 14, 2022
Worth the read, written like a graphic novel but non-fiction. This book really stretches your thinking and challenges you to be aware of the stereotypes and societal norms your brain falls into without even realizing it.
Strongest sections, in my opinion: (5) Feelings: Sexual Orientation, (9)Reproduction: How You Make A Baby, (10)Touching: Pornography, (11) Safety: Secret Touch
Strongest sections, in my opinion: (5) Feelings: Sexual Orientation, (9)Reproduction: How You Make A Baby, (10)Touching: Pornography, (11) Safety: Secret Touch
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October 27, 2022I don't know how to rate this book. It is a big book filled with so much information. I think if I was a parent of a tween/teen, I would use this as a reference to open up dialog with my child. I felt overwhelmed by the info I would imagine a young person would too. My personal opinion is that the brightly colored graphic novel style made it a bit hard to focus and read.
April 24, 2022
This book will undoubtedly be controversial, because it give kids excellent information in an honest and forthright way many adults will be uncomfortable with. Also the first book for tweens I've seen that talks about non-monogamy in a positive light! Not for every family, but I think this could be an excellent guide to help parents talk about challenging subjects that might have gone unspoken when they were growing up, especially consent and boundaries.
June 16, 2022
A great and informative graphic novel! All libraries should have it proudly on display.
August 25, 2022
If you’re a parent or caregiver to a kid…
Or aunt or uncle to a kid…
Or a teacher or play a professional role in a kid’s life…
Or if you were a kid once…
This book is a must.
Or aunt or uncle to a kid…
Or a teacher or play a professional role in a kid’s life…
Or if you were a kid once…
This book is a must.
February 14, 2023
432 pages of pure gold, a must read for anyone in a human body
September 24, 2023
Because steiner education is falling apart and most people in my class think that you can get pregnant by holding hands.
December 12, 2023
Very good & encompasses a lot! Only complaint is that it is not super accessible for kids with vision loss (which is fine as it’s a comic, but I’d love to see more blind representation esp as it includes deaf representation! And the font is small, so it + the variety of colors is a lot for someone who is low vision). i love the reflection questions and activities. it is long but can easily be split up into chunks
March 28, 2024
This was excellent and covered so much information, from healthy boundary setting, consent, etc while being reassuring that all bodies are bodies and differences are okay. Highly recommend this book to all middle schoolers with questions and families.
January 9, 2025
10/10 recommend for anyone navigating the “talks” with their kids.
September 5, 2022
Got this book after getting a lot of sexuality questions from my 8 year old daughter one day. It is really good, I wish I would have had these resources growing up. Very detailed and eloquent, yet not vulgar. Each chapter covers an important topic, encourages questions and critical thinking and provides lots of great resources. I believe I would not force a child to read it from cover to cover like I did, but more like going to each relevant chapter when certain information is needed. I also believe it would be best if read together, so conversation can happen. Recommend.
January 12, 2023
You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender,Puberty, and Other Things by Cory Silverberg is gross, just gross. People have told me things about their sex lives, ever since I was sixteen. I think sex is a very private thing, so would never share details about my own.
Thus these unattractive comic characters slurping tongue kissing, and even dogs mating, turned me off. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one person's beautiful is another's not so much. So by unattractive I do not mean "ugly," terrible representations, perhaps. I am a person who does not understand why anyone could like Howard Stern, The Simpsons, South Park or D J Trump, so perhaps I am too old.
I could not finish the book. Print too small for me to read on Kindle, had to enlarge every page. There are some good messages in the book. I especially like setting boundaries, because I never learned to do that as a child.
I do not know that the book would be useful in teaching children acceptance of people different from themselves.
“You don’t ridicule people and give them obnoxious nicknames, at least after you graduate from the third grade,” Jamie Raskin. That seems to be the norm as lead by a former president.
I may have nightmares about the character bent over head at feet, legs looking up at their butt and "middle parts." It is almost like kiddie porn to me. I can now understand why GOP claims "the left" is trying to indoctrinate people.
Something that I can finally agree with them about: I do not think it right for parents to have their children subjected to sex-change operations. Let them grow up to adulthood and decide for themselves. People can not even smoke a cigarette until 18 (or is it now 21) or drink alcohol until 21. Nor are they considered mature enough to operate motor vehicles until 16 0or 17.
I do not approve of book bannings, but I do understand why parents would object to this type of sex ed being taught in public schools. Let parents decide if they want to give the book to their children to read in their own home.
Thus these unattractive comic characters slurping tongue kissing, and even dogs mating, turned me off. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one person's beautiful is another's not so much. So by unattractive I do not mean "ugly," terrible representations, perhaps. I am a person who does not understand why anyone could like Howard Stern, The Simpsons, South Park or D J Trump, so perhaps I am too old.
I could not finish the book. Print too small for me to read on Kindle, had to enlarge every page. There are some good messages in the book. I especially like setting boundaries, because I never learned to do that as a child.
I do not know that the book would be useful in teaching children acceptance of people different from themselves.
“You don’t ridicule people and give them obnoxious nicknames, at least after you graduate from the third grade,” Jamie Raskin. That seems to be the norm as lead by a former president.
I may have nightmares about the character bent over head at feet, legs looking up at their butt and "middle parts." It is almost like kiddie porn to me. I can now understand why GOP claims "the left" is trying to indoctrinate people.
Something that I can finally agree with them about: I do not think it right for parents to have their children subjected to sex-change operations. Let them grow up to adulthood and decide for themselves. People can not even smoke a cigarette until 18 (or is it now 21) or drink alcohol until 21. Nor are they considered mature enough to operate motor vehicles until 16 0or 17.
I do not approve of book bannings, but I do understand why parents would object to this type of sex ed being taught in public schools. Let parents decide if they want to give the book to their children to read in their own home.
May 30, 2023
This book purports to be sex education. It is not. Rather, it is primarily a vehicle for inculcating radical gender theory in vulnerable adolescents. The book contains very little science and a disturbing amount of false and misleading information that must be believed to prop up the flimsy and tottering edifice of gender theory. For example, the authors claim that sex is not binary (it is binary; there are precisely two gametes in anisogamous reproduction and no more); declare that people cannot tell what sex others are (they can, almost immediately and with nearly perfect accuracy); state that sex is “assigned” at birth (it is observed, not assigned); suggest that some intersex people are neither male nor female or both (every intersex person is either male or female; no human has ever been observed to be both male and female); and treat reproductive anatomy as wholly irrelevant to one’s sex (reproductive anatomy *defines* one’s sex). They use terms such as “bodies with penises” and “bodies with vulvas,” and assiduously avoid the words “male” and “female” as though they have no relevance to sex whatsoever. To ensure kids are well primed to eventually adopt the full panoply of critical social justice theories/concepts, the authors throw in content about colonization, racial oppression, Black Lives Matter, ableism, land theft, climate justice, and how words or opinions the authors dislike constitute “violence.” This book should be read only as a cautionary example of how blind adherence to ideology can cause even intelligent people to believe the absurd. When done, shelve it next to “One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe.”
January 6, 2024
Life changing, and not just for my kid. I read this book with my 12-year-old son and cannot recommend it more. It covers tough topics in the most inclusive and sensitive way possible. It talks about sex, STIs, and body changes, sure. But it places these topics in the wider context they deserve - consent, inclusion, and power.
On more than one occasion as I read aloud, I was thinking how I would never have been able to express my perspective this perfectly. It was for my near-teenager but I learned so much about myself and my own gender and sexual identity in the process.
And I also found myself thinking: Oh, if only someone had read this book to me when I was a child, or given me permission to view the world this way! How different my growing up years could have been!
That’s OK - Cory Silverberg has done it now, and it just goes to show that it’s never too late to learn more about yourself.
Read it! Whether you have a pre-teen or not. It will change your perspective.
On more than one occasion as I read aloud, I was thinking how I would never have been able to express my perspective this perfectly. It was for my near-teenager but I learned so much about myself and my own gender and sexual identity in the process.
And I also found myself thinking: Oh, if only someone had read this book to me when I was a child, or given me permission to view the world this way! How different my growing up years could have been!
That’s OK - Cory Silverberg has done it now, and it just goes to show that it’s never too late to learn more about yourself.
Read it! Whether you have a pre-teen or not. It will change your perspective.
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