It's Perfectly Normal
Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health
by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley
Paperback, 98 pages purchase
Banned Books Week kicks off Sunday: Each year, the American
Library Association takes this week to sponsor events all over the country to
talk about the books that shock, offend and generally make Americans
uncomfortable.
Violence and curse words are two of the top three reasons
books get banned in the U.S.
The third reason is sexual content. For example, the Fifty
Shades of Grey series has been frequently banned from libraries for its explicit
descriptions of intercourse.
But when it comes to kids, the bar for inappropriate sexual
language is much lower. In 2013, the top banned book in America was the kid's
story Captain Underpants. It was most frequently challenged for potty languageand toilet humor.
That's how a sex education book for children, titled It's
Perfectly Normal, became one of the most banned books of the past two decades.
The book is meant to teach children 10 and older about sexual health, emotional
health and relationships, and contains sections on puberty, pregnancy and
sexual orientation.
It also has full-color pictures of naked people, by
illustrator Michael Emberley.
"What we see in this book is illustrations of the sex
act," explains Barbara Jones, director of the Office of Intellectual
Freedom for the American Library Association. Since the book's initial
publication in 1994, her office has helped local libraries handle complaints
about it. "I think for some people it's alarming," she says.
To me it wasn't controversial. It's what every child has a
right to know.
Author Robie Harris
Author Robie Harris says she always knew the book could be
controversial.
"I was warned by several people not to do this book,
that it would ruin my career," she remembers. "But I really didn't
care. To me it wasn't controversial. It's what every child has a right to
know."
Now in its fourth edition, the book has sold more than a
million copies. Harris asks experts like pediatricians, biologists and even
lawyers to fact-check each edition, to make sure updates to AIDS prevention
information or birth control laws are accurate.
Michael Emberley's illustrations, like this one showing an
egg traveling through a fallopian tube, make sexual health information
accessible to an elementary and middle school audience. But elements of the
art, including naked bodies, make some parents uncomfortable.
Internet safety and sexting are new topics in this edition.
"There can be a lot of inappropriate, weird, confusing, uncomfortable,
creepy, scary or even dangerous websites that you can end up on when you're
looking for information," she writes.
Harris also updated her explanations of gender and sexual
abuse, and includes information about and for transgender youth.
A lot of parents say they don't want their kids learning
about that kind of sensitive information without supervision.
Carey Fritz of Culver City, Calif., has two children in
elementary school. He says he'd rather his kids not see the illustrations in
the book without him present.
"If they saw this without me, I'd probably feel a
little frustrated," he said, referring to a page with illustrations of
various birth control methods and how to use them.
"It's talking about sexual activity, which I don't
think a 10-year-old needs to worry about," he explains.
Over the years, many parents who share this sentiment have
asked for the book to be put in a restricted section of the library.
It's not a ban — parents just don't want young children tocome across it accidentally.
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