Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Mommy, did I grow in your tummy? Where many babies come from

Mommy, did I grow in your tummy? Where many babies come from
by Elaine R. Gordon, Ph.D.
illustrated by Kathy O'Malley
Language: English
Santa Monica, CA : EM Greenberg Press, Inc., 2011.
28 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 28 cm.
ISBN: 9780615402888; 0615402887
$16.95 
My annotation: A little girl asks her mommy, “Did I grow in your tummy?” and the mommy tells her that she’s asked a very important question and takes that as a good time to read her little girl a story. It is the story of Sandy and Bob who really wanted a baby. They “read all the books on how to make a baby, but no matter how hard they tried, no baby was made.” So they visit a doctor who tells them that there are “all kinds of reasons why” some people can’t make babies, but that there are other ways and that Sandy and Bob have to pick the best way for them, "They have to think very hard and make a very important decision." The book then goes on to explain five different methods for having a baby: sperm donation, egg donation, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, and adoption. These methods, all introduced with the proper vocabulary, are all explained in a way that a child could understand them. For egg donation for example, “A mom might not have an egg to join with the dad’s sperm. But she can still grow a baby in her body. When this happens, another woman, called an egg donor, can help by donating or giving her egg to meet and join with the dad’s sperm.” Suitable for young children, the book does not go into detail about how sperm and egg get together under normal circumstances, except to say that "a dad puts his sperm into the mom and a baby starts to grow." At the end of the story, Sandy and Bob get the baby they so desired (the book doesn’t say by what method), but adds, “but it really doesn't matter because Bob and Sandy ended up with their dream come true - a wonderful, wonderful baby.” This is the second edition of this 1992 publication, which was one of the first five books of its kind ever written or published. Unlike the first edition, the terms GIFT and ZIFT are not mentioned, which is fine because they were not explained in the first edition. The book takes a family-building approach and a child-conception approach and employs the “all families are made differently” and “the helper” scripts. There are full color illustrations and it is recommended for children ages 3-5. 
Available: http://www.elainegordon.com/Elaine_R._Gordon,_Ph.D./Books.html

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