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SOCIAL SCIENCES
Greener, Rachel

Making a Baby

32 pp. | Dial | June, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-593-32485-1 $17.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Clare Owen. "When they are born, most babies are either called boys or girls based on what their bodies look like." This baby-making primer takes a decidedly inclusive approach to the topic, steering clear of rigidly gendered language and featuring a wide range of family members and configurations. Using a muted color palette, Owen's cleanly rendered art has a retro aesthetic and includes people of different races, genders, shapes, and abilities--happy-looking families all. After dispelling some popular dodges (stork, cabbage patch), the forthright text launches into the old-fashioned method: "A grown-up with a penis and a grown-up with a vagina can make a baby by having sex, if they want to." The illustration keeps the covers on an interracial couple in bed, but a helpful cross-sectional inset image shows what it looks like when "the penis [is] inside the vagina." Greener explains that "there are lots of reasons why" sexual intercourse isn't the only way people have babies and includes descriptions of assisted reproductive techniques, surrogacy, and adoption before moving on to discuss pregnancy, fetal development, labor, and delivery. A final spread discusses gender and biological sex, why "some babies [don't] grow," and premature births. An authentic and honest celebration of babies, families, and diversity.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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