What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: Revised Edition Paperback – Illustrated, June 6, 2007

We bought three books about puberty for our 11 year old son. I will post this comment under all three books. The books are The Boy’s Body Book, Third Edition: Everything You Need to Know for Growing up YOU by Kelli Dunham, RN; The “What’s Happening to My Body?” Book for Boys. Revised Edition by Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras and It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health (The Family Library) by Robie H. Harris.My son read all three books, so I asked him for his feedback on each book and this is what he said.He found the It’s Perfectly Normal book to be “more comic’y and less squeamish.” He found the Bird and the Bee characters thru-out the book to be “really funny.” It’s Perfectly Normal contained the most information about sexual intercourse whereas The Boy’s Body Book and What’s Happening to My Body have more about health.The What’s Happening to My Body book contained “more anatomically correct drawings.” It also has a section about being uncircumcized and how to take care of your foreskin.The Boy’s Body Book is “fine,” but “it doesn’t really talk about sex and genital changes.” It doesn’t go into as much detail as the other two books. It does however have more content on older teens, curfew, chores, siblings and divorce. It also has a brief section on what to do if someone tries to touch you inappropriately.The Boy’s Body Book also doesn’t have a section about girls’ bodies, but both What’s Happening to My Body and It’s Perfectly Normal do have sections about girls.Overall, if parents want a book that is more about emotions, then he recommends the Boy’s Body Book; and if parents want a book that is more detailed about sex and genital changes, then he recommends What’s Happening to My Body or It’s Perfectly Normal.

This book, and its counterpart (The What's Happening to My Body Book for Girls) are absolute necessities for any parent, with children from age eight to probably age thirteen or fourteen. No matter how open, honest and sex positive we are with our children, talking about all of these topics can be awkward, tense, and difficult to navigate for parents, and embarrassing, or boring, for kids. This book helps with all of those issues. It addresses the snicker-worthy slang terms in the first chapter, and gets your child accustomed to hearing all of the anatomical terms for the reproductive organs and their component parts. This eases the tension, and helps to keep the focus where it belongs - on preparing your child for the changes puberty will likely cause in their bodies, as well as all the social, physical, and emotional aspects of sexuality. Counting the girls' version of the book, this is the fourth copy I've purchased. I buy one for anyone I know who has a child coming towards the end of his or her elementary school years, and into pubescence.I recommend a read through on your own, first. Depending on your child's age, there are some chapters you may wish to hold in reserve for a later stage of development. I also recommend reading it together. It should be a conversation STARTER, not a replacement. With my eldest, we read a chapter together every night, and I always allotted plenty of time for questions and answers before, during, and after the reading.This book helped me to raise one sex positive, well adjusted, (now) older teenager, capable of setting their own boundaries, and of respecting those of other people, without having internalized the stigma so much of Western culture places on sex and sexuality.

I ordered this book to potentially share with my 11 1/2 year old who is finishing 5th grade. He's pretty innocent, much more then I was at that age! He is in no rush to grow up and in many ways still wants to be a little boy; I think he will be a "late bloomer." However I have noticed a change in attitude, privacy concerns, sleep patterns, etc... and that tells me it's coming! We live in a very small rural town- one school k-12 with roughly 200 kids total, so the little kids ride the bus with the teens, and are very much integrated and I know for a fact that he has already been exposed to some of the ideas and language being discussed in this book. And then there is the internet, where everything and anything is a click away. So, I figured it is best to begin addressing this all sooner then later- like NOW. I ordered the paperback, and also the kindle version for a few bucks more, and read through that while I wait for the hard copy.Overall, the book is chock full of all the technical information you would need to know- I learned a lot about puberty that I never knew myself, and I'm fairly savvy! It is very, very wordy though, and reads like a resource text book, so right away I can say that my 11 year old will NOT read this on his own- he's not a very good reader and this is literally above his reading level and he would be overwhelmed- too much work. I will hold off and maybe have my husband read through some of the information with him a little at a time, starting with the boys and girls puberty and development sections- because that is what is happening around him right now! He told me the girls got a "puberty talk" last year in school, but nothing for the boys- what's up with that? They are going through it too, and leaving them in the dark is not okay and will only make them more nervous, anxious, and awkward around their peers. He's a very squeamish kid and will absolutely be a bit freaked out by some if the info- but I still think it's all totally appropriate for him to know. He's super bright and intuitive so I think he should know this stuff because I don't want him to be confused and embarrassed by the words and ideas he's already hearing- he should know what it all actually means and what is going on! I have no problem with the content in this book- slang words or otherwise. He's very sensitive and knows that words are very powerful and hurtful. He will be that kid who intervenes and says something when other kids use these words- telling them it's not ok. Also, I did not find even one mention of anal sex, or oral sex in the book- so I'm not sure what some of the negative reviewers are talking about. It describes homosexuality in a general way as sexual feelings and activity with the same sex- I found no specifics. Even the sexual intercourse description was not overly descriptive, IMO. I'm surprised that there is no oral sex mentioned actually and believe it should absolutely be covered! That was one of the MAJOR topics of conversation I remember at that age, and there was a lot of pressure to engage in that right away- way before actual sexual intercourse! About the only thing I was even slightly uncomfortable with was the mention of boys masturbating together, because while I agree that this is totally normal, innocent and even acceptable in certain circumstances, it is a VERY gray area that can easily make one child uncomfortable and become inappropriate. Plus, an older child could easily be "grooming" a younger child for potential abuse(also not discussed). If you do nothing else make sure you discuss this scenario with your kid!I do think this book is in desperate need of an update- this revised edition seems to be from 2007, and a lot has happened in 10 years! The author is clearly older, and a lot of the language is pretty dated- for example she refers to "necking"- who the heck uses that term anymore? That was dated when I was a teen in the 90's! It really read like a grandma teaching a sex ed class- sorry Lynda. Kids are much more advanced and there are many sexual situations involving technology that did not exist and are not covered at all. There is a very brief note about the internet in the end- but nothing about social media, sexting, snap-chat, etc...these are the platforms that kids are using to explore sexuality and it is completely absent in this book.Overall- a good reference book, and my husband and I will certainly share parts of this with our son right away, and will probably give him free reign with it when he indicates that he is ready to read it on his own. I have a feeling he will one day use this book to educate a future girlfriend who was NOT properly or thoroughly educated herself! And that seems totally okay with me. I am all about empowering our youth with accurate information.