The Very Kind Koala: A Surrogacy Story for Children
written and illustrated by Kimberly Kluger-Bell
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2013.
24 p. col ill. cm.
ISBN: 1482621525 ; 9781482621525
Summary: The Very Kind Koala is a charming picture book for young children which provides an introduction to surrogacy through the simple story of a koala bear and her husband who needed the help of a very kind koala to carry their baby in her pouch. Parents can begin reading this story to children as young as 3 years of age to begin the dialog about their own helpful surrogate.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Surrogate mothers -- Juvenile fiction
- Mothers -- Juvenile fiction
- Infertility -- Juvenile fiction
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4184368
The Seed, The Egg, and The Magic Love Tummy
by Grandpa
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
74 p. cm.
ISBN: 1499193696 ; 9781499193695
Summary: An illustrated first storybook, for under fives, designed to explain, in simple childlike terms, the process of IVF donor conception to children conceived as the result of sperm or egg donation. Fuzzy Bobbit is an inquisitive little rabbit who wants an answer to the question: "Where do babies come from?" He quizzes his little playmates, Frisky Rufus the red squirrel, Smartypants Slipper the weasel, and Bumble Firkin the shrew, but they are no use. So Fuzzy sets out to question the grown ups. His quest takes him far and wide through the forest. Along the way he meets a host of woodland creatures - Mr and Mrs Burrows, the moles, Colonel Knocker the woodpecker, Mr Skitter the squirrel, Doctor Barcode the badger, Nurse Prickles the hedgehog, and the Right Reverend Dr Plumage the kingfisher Bishop of Ash Grove. After an encounter with the French fox, Monsieur Renard and the Spanish dove, Signora Paloma, Fuzzy finds himself standing in front of his headmaster, Professor Hoot the owl. With the professor's help the little rabbit is finally able to unravel the mystery of The Seed, The Egg, and the Magic Love Tummy.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4767853
Zak's safari : a story for donor-conceived kids of two-mom families
by Christy Tyner
illus. by Ciaee
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
33 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781502325464 ; 1502325462
My annotation: Narrated by a young boy, this is the story of how Zak’s family was made with the help of donor sperm. Zak takes the reader on a brief tour of how babies are made with sperm and egg, but explains that his parents didn’t have the sperm required because only men’s bodies have sperm and he has two moms. Zak explains how his parents visited a sperm bank and chose sperm from a catalog, making this the very first children’s book to describe the process of selecting sperm from a catalog. Zak also teaches his readers about “genes,” which carry secret instructions for how babies are to look as well. Zak’s tour of how babies are made is not as detailed as that in It takes love … but this is not a drawback. Zak explains just enough for his young readers to grasp early concepts around sperm donation. The book takes both a family-building approach and a child-conception approach because it explains the most basic details of how babies are made, while at the same time emphasizing that all families are made differently and that this is the way his family was made. The book employs the “helper” and the “nuts & bolts” scripts and is recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Sperm banks -- Juvenile fiction
- Artificial insemination -- Juvenile fiction
- Lesbian mothers -- Juvenile fiction
Available: http://www.zaks-safari.com/
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4992334
The pea that was me : a two dads' egg donation and surrogacy story
written and illus. by Kimberly Kluger-Bell
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014.
17 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1499746695 ; 9781499746693
My annotation: This book, about egg donation and surrogacy in two-dad families, is part of the Pea that was me series written by licensed marriage and family therapist, Kimberly Kluger-Bell. It is not so much a story as it is a very simple explanation of how “the pea that was me finally came to be!” The child narrator, a green pea, explains to her readers that it takes eggs, sperm, and a tummy in order to make a baby pea. When the egg and sperm are put together inside a “lady’s tummy,” a pea gets “bigger and bigger and bigger” until it grows into a baby. She explains however that her dads did not have any eggs, nor did they have a tummy, so they visit a doctor who knew “a very kind lady” who had eggs, and “another nice lady” who would “be happy to carry their baby pea!” The book introduces very young children to the words, “eggs,” “sperm,” “donor,” and “surrogate,” and would be suitable for children ages 3-5 since it provides the most basic explanation for how babies are made. The book takes a child conception approach and employs both the “helper” and the “nuts & bolts” scripts.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4834676
The pea that was me : a two moms' sperm donation story
written and illus. by Kimberly Kluger-Bell
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2014
23 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1495290042 ; 9781495290046
My annotation: Written by a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in fertility counseling, this is a book with a child narrator, represented by a baby pea, who explains how her two moms had her via donor sperm. She begins the story by asking the question, “where did the pea that was me come from?” They tell her that two things are required: eggs and sperm, which must be put together in order to grow a baby inside a mommy’s tummy. The narrator goes on to explain though that her moms didn’t have any sperm, without which you can’t make a baby, so they went to a doctor who told them “there was a very kind man who had lots of extra sperm” and would be happy to share it. So the doctor put the sperm from the man together with one of her mommy’s eggs and a baby pea started to grow. The book introduces several vocabulary words to young children: “sperm,” “egg,” and “donor,” as well as the concept that a doctor’s help was required in order for the baby pea that “finally came to be.” The book takes a child-conception approach and employs the “nuts & bolts” and the “helper” scripts. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4631754
Noortje : dochter van een Bewust Alleenstaande Moeder
by Simone Scholtens
Language: Dutch
[Zwolle] : Bergboek, 2013.
27 p. : ill. ; 16x16 cm.
ISBN: 9789491186165 9491186167
My annotation: Noortje: the daughter of a conscious single mother is the beginning of a story of a mom who had her child via a known donor. Noortje lives in a big house with a cat that is currently pregnant with kittens. Because the cat’s belly is getting bigger, Noortje's questions begin. She asks her mom, "Mom, was I in your belly when I was a baby?" Yes her mom tells her. Noortje then asks, "How did I get in your belly?" That’s when her mom begins to tell her how babies are made with the egg of a mommy and the seeds of a daddy. But Noortje is confused at first because she only has a mom and no dad. Noortje has a “donor” though, her mom tells her, who gave his “seeds” to mom so that mom could have the baby she wanted so very much. Noortje’s mom explains to her that when seeds and eggs meet, babies begin to grow. Mom tells Noortje that she knows the donor, but does not explain how, who he is, or why she used a donor, so these details are left out. However, this book is just the beginning of the story and was written specifically for this child by this mother. It is presumed that Noortje is still very young and has only just begun to ask these questions so the story provides just enough information to satisfy her questions at this point. In this story, the donor actually comes to see Noortje after she is born and is “speechless” at what a beautiful baby she is. At the end, "Mama was very happy that the donor had given his seeds because now she had the sweetest baby in the world." Other than “donor,” and "seeds" and "eggs," no other terminology is introduced. The book takes a family-building approach even though the word family is never used. This is because Noortje’s conception is not heavily emphasized in the book but rather, how she came to be a part of this mother-child twosome is what is highlighted. This book employs “the helper” script. Noortje’s mom is the illustrator of the book and her illustrations are well-drawn black and white pencil illustrations against a colored watercolor background. The book is recommended for children ages 3-5 and is only available in Dutch.
Web site: http://noortje-dochtervaneenbewustalleenstaandemoeder.nl/index.html
Wo der nordwind weht
by Margaret P. Ritter
illus. by Karina Wacker
Language: German
Vienna : Bright Knight Books, 2013.
15 p. : col. ill. ; cm.
ISBN: 9783950342017
My annotation: This book is the first children’s book published out of Austria about donor conception. It is written as a fairy tale by a single mother for her daughter and is a warm, loving tribute to the miracle of her daughter’s very existence. It begins as her daughter Sunny, an impatient soul waits to be born, dying to be born, so that she may “let her light shine and … set free all her sparkling vitality on earth among the living.” But she must wait until the right person selects her so that she may be born. The book talks about how the souls of all children are meant to be no matter how they get here and that children must wait until they are “struck by … (the) shooting beam of (the) love” of their parents to be born into the “garden of life.” It hints that a man is needed in order to make a baby but also hints at immaculate conception as Sunny was conceived “without a man so much as touching” her mother. She was conceived in Denmark, the land “where the northwind blows” and the country to which her mother traveled from Austria where the use of sperm donation for single mothers and lesbians is rather liberal. It is an entirely personal story, written by this mother for this child and although it never uses the word “donor” or any of the usual terms associated with assisted conception, the book does however use big words like “bagatelle,” “pristine,” and “joi-de-vivre.” The book presents the “labor of love” script and takes both a family-building and a child-conception approach and ultimately counsels to both children and adults that we have the children we are meant to have. Although the concepts presented here are a bit abstract for younger children, the book was inspired by her three-year-old daughter's question, "Mama, where is my father?" For this reason it is recommended both for children ages 3-5 and 5-8. Simultaneously published in both German and English.
Available: http://www.amazon.de/Wo-Nordwind-weht-M-Ritter/dp/3950342001/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392557115&sr=1-1&keywords=wo+der+nordwind+weht
Gal and Noa's daddies
by Shosh Pinkas
illus. by Julia Philipone-Erez
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2013
21 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1494442531; 9781494442538
My annotation: Gal and Noa are twins. When Gal wants to play daddies on the playground, she is derided by a little girl who tells her there is no such thing as a two-daddy family. Gal corrects her and says that “it’s just like our family.” Another child chimes in however and says that families can’t have more than one dad and that boys can’t marry boys. Then another child chimes in and says that her cousins have two moms. Now the kids on the playground are confused as they have never heard of such a thing. They have questions for Gal and Noa like who does what chores, and what do you call them? When they get home that night they ask their dads how they were born and their dads proceed to tell them how you need a “woman’s teeny egg and a man’s tiny seed” to make a baby, as well as a mommy’s tummy and because they didn’t have a mommy’s tummy, they needed a little help from doctors, an egg donor, and a surrogate. The doctors helped the egg meet the seed and a “nice lady” in India agreed to carry their babies. (Israel prohibits surrogacy for gay men so gay men must commission surrogates outside of Israel). This is the true story of two gay men in Israel who wanted to build their family via surrogacy. It is written by the grandmother of the twin girls who were conceived via surrogacy. Although this book serves as an introduction to surrogacy, it never introduces the term “surrogate,” nor are the words sperm or egg donor used. Rather, it is the story of how two men loved each other and wanted to have children. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “helper” script. The story is told in a rhyme that works and is recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Children of gay parents -- Juvenile fiction
- Gay fathers -- Juvenile fiction
- Conception -- Juvenile fiction
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4566217
Where the northwind blows
by Margaret P. Ritter
illus. by Karina Wacker
Language: English
Vienna : Bright Knight Books, 2013.
15 p. : col. ill. ; cm.
ISBN: 9783950342017
My annotation: This book is the first children’s book published out of Austria about donor conception. It is written as a fairy tale by a single mother for her daughter and is a warm, loving tribute to the miracle of her daughter’s very existence. It begins as her daughter Sunny, an impatient soul waits to be born, dying to be born, so that she may “let her light shine and … set free all her sparkling vitality on earth among the living.” But she must wait until the right person selects her so that she may be born. The book talks about how the souls of all children are meant to be no matter how they get here and that children must wait until they are “struck by … (the) shooting beam of (the) love” of their parents to be born into the “garden of life.” It hints that a man is needed in order to make a baby but also hints at immaculate conception as Sunny was conceived “without a man so much as touching” her mother. She was conceived in Denmark, the land “where the northwind blows” and the country to which her mother traveled from Austria where the use of sperm donation for single mothers and lesbians is rather liberal. It is an entirely personal story, written by this mother for this child and although it never uses the word “donor” or any of the usual terms associated with assisted conception, the book does however use big words like “bagatelle,” “pristine,” and “joi-de-vivre.” The book presents the “labor of love” script and takes both a family-building and a child-conception approach and ultimately counsels to both children and adults that we have the children we are meant to have. Although the concepts presented here are a bit abstract for younger children, the book was inspired by her three-year-old daughter's question, "Mama, where is my father?" For this reason it is recommended both for children ages 3-5 and 5-8. Simultaneously published in both German and English.
Available: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Northwind-Blows-Margaret-Ritter/dp/395034201X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391589987&sr=8-1&keywords=northwind+ritter
Chérubine et la poule qui ne pondait pas
by Sabine Debrus
illus. by Taylor Brandon
Language: French
CreateSpace, 2013
39 p. : col. ill. ; 16 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1492796603; 9781492796602
Summary: This book, written for children, is the story of one woman’s fertility journey and of all of the methods of ART she tried until she finally decided to adopt. It conveys one woman’s determination to try absolutely everything to have her own child. The story is told in rhyme, and it is the story of Angelina, a chicken who was despondent because she could not lay any eggs. Along with her angel dog Chérubine, she travels the world for a cure but nothing she tries works for her. Even after failure after failure she does not give up. She is determined to lay her own egg, and one day she finally does, but the egg is cracked. It is therefore not a viable egg. At this point, she does decide to give up, until her chicken friend, Dee, overhears her sadness and decides to take one of the three eggs she is currently laying on and says, ‘Please don’t be blue. I can’t think of a hen who’d be a better mommy than you!” Angelina is overjoyed and hugs the egg to her heart. “Soon the egg hatched and Angelina’s heart filled with joy! For she had a little baby chick, a bouncing baby boy!” This book clearly can be used to begin a discussion of egg donation with a child, but it can be used by any mother who has tried any path to motherhood through any method of ART as the author tried all of them. The book takes a child-conception approach and employs “the helper” and the “labor of love” scripts. There are full-color cartoon drawings and the book is recommended for ages 3-5.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4453674
618.178
RG134 .G75 2004
Before you were born : our wish for a baby
by Janice Grimes
illustrations by Mary Moye-Rowley
Language: English
Webster, Iowa : X, Y, and Me, ©2004.
1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 0975502883; 9780975502884
My annotation: “Please tell me the story of your wish for a baby,” the little bear boy asks his father at the beginning of the book. This is not the first time he has heard the story but he absolutely loves to hear how much his parents wanted him. When his parents wish for a baby did not come true at first, they go to the hospital to see a “special doctor,” who tells them that Daddy does not have the “special cell” needed to make a baby. There was however, a “nice man” called a "donor" who was willing to give one of his special cells. When the time was right, the special cells were placed inside Mommy and a baby started to grow and “That baby was you! Before we could see you, before we could touch you, we knew that we loved you.” This is a simple and tender story that conveys to a child just how much they were wished for and wanted. It is unusual in that it is the father telling the story and not the mother, as nearly all of the other children’s books about ART are narrated by a female voice. This is one in a series of stories written by a registered nurse who works in an IVF clinic. It takes a family-building approach and a child-conception approach and employs the “spare parts,” the “labor of love,” and “the helper” scripts. Very cute illustrations, professionally rendered, depict a father and son bear family, but the mother is not present. The book does not introduce children to the words, “sperm” and “egg” but it does introduce the word “donor.” Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Artificial insemination, Human -- Juvenile literature
- Artificial insemination, Human
Available: http://www.xyandme.com/XYMe-Books.htm
The story of our family : a book for lesbian families with children conceived by donor insemination
by Petra Thorn and Lisa Green
illus. by Tiziana Rinaldi
Language: English
Mörfelden : FamART-Verlag, 2013.
15 p. : col. ill. ; 21 cm. x 21 cm.
ISBN: 9783981141030
My annotation: This is the story of a Mommy and Mama who loved each other very much and wanted to have a baby, so the women go to see a doctor who helps couples have children. At this point, there are two page 8's, one describing self-insemination with a known donor (“They knew a man who was happy to give them sperm.”) and one describing insemination with an unknown donor (“The doctor put the sperm from a nice man into Mommy’s tummy.”) You can skip over one or the other depending on your own insemination experience. This book is written by two Ph.D’s, with a combined experience of over forty years working as family therapists, one of whom is a lesbian mother herself via DI. It is a simple story which, when read to your child, provides room for you to tell your own family story. The book also introduces children to the words, “sperm,” and “egg” (“Babies grow when the egg from a woman and a sperm from a man come together.”). This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “labor of love” and “the helper” scripts. Full-color professional illustrations render a very happy couple, a doctor, and a donor even though the word “donor” is not introduced. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: http://www.famart.de/kinderbuecher/
Mom, Mama, and Me... and How I Came to Be!
by Tina Rella
illus. by Monica Meza
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2010.
26 p. : col. ill. ; 20 x 25 cm.
ISBN: 9781452875668; 1452875669
My annotation: Told in both the first and third person, this is the story of Jonathan and his two moms. When one day at school, someone asks him what his parents do for a living, he tells them what his moms do. “But where’s your dad?” the other child asks, and Jonathan does not know what to say. At home he asks, “Do I have a Daddy?” to which his moms reply: “...love makes a family, yes it’s true/Love makes a family - me and you/There’s nothing better we could have done/We always knew that you were the one!” The next page features the “Family Fertility Center” about which his parents begin to explain how a “nice young man … donated his sperm,” which a doctor mixed with “our eggs.” Although the book introduces the terms, “sperm,” “egg,” “embryo,” and “donate,” the part about mixing the sperm with “our eggs” might have to be explained as the book’s attempt at rhyme is confusing in parts: “The doctor mixed our eggs with the sperm/Which stayed in a dish for a very short term.” Still, this is an introduction to sperm donation and in vitro fertilization for young children with two mothers. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “families are made differently” and a little bit of “the helper” script. Full -color illustrations depict a multi-racial lesbian couple. Recommended for ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Children of gay parents -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Lesbian mothers -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
- Conception -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
Available: https://www.createspace.com/3454840
Our story (sperm donation for solo mums)
by Nicola Baxter; Donor Conception Network
Language: English
Nottingham : Donor Conception Network, ©2002.
24 p. : col. ill. ; 20 x 21 cm.
ISBN: 0954399501
My annotation: A little boy begins to ask his mum if he has a dad like the other children at school. His mum replies that there are several different types of families, including the one like theirs where it is “just us.” The boy then asks, “But did I ever have a dad?” to which his mum begins to tell him how much she really wanted him but that she just did not “meet the right person to be a dad.” She begins to tell him how a sperm from a man and an egg from a woman are necessary to make a baby but that “some very kind men gave some of their sperm so that women like me could have babies.” The little boy then asks if they know anything about “the man who helped you to make me?” to which the mum replies that she just knows a few things like the colour of his eyes, the colour of his hair, and how tall he is. She also adds that “there are lots of lucky families like us,” assuring her son that he is not the only one who was brought into the world this way. This book is an introduction to anonymous sperm donation for children, although it does not introduce children to the term “donor.” It takes a family-building approach and employs the “families are made differently” and “the helper” scripts. It is in full-color and hand-drawn by various children who depict people of all colors and sizes. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Artificial insemination, Human -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
Available: http://www.dcnetwork.org/products/product/our-story-sperm-donation-solo-mums
Our story (sperm donation for lesbian couples)
by Nicola Baxter; Donor Conception Network
Language: English
Nottingham : Donor Conception Network, ©2002.
24 p. : col. ill. ; 20 x 21 cm.
ISBN: 095439951X
My annotation: Told by the child, this is the story of a little boy who lives with his two mums. The story begins when he asks the question, “Do I have a dad?” Without answering the question, the mums explain that there are many different kinds of families; some with a mum and a dad, some with just a mum, and some with just a dad. Not quite satisfied with this explanation, the child asks a second question, “...did I ever have a dad?” That’s when his mums feel compelled to explain to him how much they really wanted a baby and begin to tell him how babies are made with sperm from a man and eggs from a woman. Although the mums do not mention how exactly babies are made with these two things, they tell their son that they had to go to the hospital to get some help and that “some very kind men gave some of their sperm so that women like us could have babies.” When the little boy asks if they know anything about the man who helped to make him and if he will ever get a chance to meet him, they explain that although he won’t be a part of their lives, it is important to know that he was “kind” and “generous.” Although the word “donor” is not used, this book introduces children to the concept of anonymous sperm donation. This book is in full color and illustrated by several different children who depict the adults and children in all shapes and colors. This book takes a family-building approach and employs the “families are made differently,” “the helper,” and a little bit of the “nuts and bolts” scripts. Recommended for ages 3-5.
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Artificial insemination, Human -- Pictorial works -- Juvenile fiction
Available: http://www.dcnetwork.org/products/product/our-story-sperm-donation-lesbian-couples
¿Adónde está mi papá?
by Helena Prado Lopes
illus. by Alessandra Tozi
Language: Spanish
[Santa Cecilia, SP] : Helena Prado Lopes, 2013.
16 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 97885XXXXXXXX
My annotation: Although we do not know her age at the beginning of the story, Alice, the daughter of a single mother, finally reaches the age when she asks her mother, “Where is my father?” At this point her mother begins to explain that sperm from a man and an egg from a woman are needed to make a baby. Her mother also begins to explain to Alice how very much she wanted a child but had no husband to have a child with. So she went to a “laboratory” where men’s sperm is kept so that she could have a child on her own. Her mother goes on to explain to her that this was the happiest day of her life - when she knew that a daughter was growing inside her tummy. After hearing the whole story, a curious Alice continues to ask, “Where is the father? In what part of this enormous world is he?” Her mother does not have an answer for her, but tells her that all you need is love to make a family and also that all families are different. Because Alice’s form of conception is explained to her earlier in the book, the book takes a child-conception approach, but also ends with a family-building approach as her mother explains to her that a family is a family, whether there is a mother and a father, or whether there is just a mother and a daughter. “The helper,” the “labor of love,” and the “families are made differently” scripts are all used. The illustrations are professionally rendered and the book is recommended for children ages 3-5. It has been simultaneously published in Spanish and Portuguese (not in English yet) and is available directly from the author.
Available directly from the author: helenaprado@globo.com
The chicken who couldn't lay eggs
by Sabine-Julie De Brus
illus. by Taylor Brandon
Language: English
CreateSpace, 2013
39 p. : col. ill. ; 16 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 1492788813; 9781492788812
Summary: This book, written for children, is the story of one woman’s fertility journey and of all of the methods of ART she tried until she finally decided to adopt. It conveys one woman’s determination to try absolutely everything to have her own child. The story is told in rhyme, and it is the story of Angelina, a chicken who was despondent because she could not lay any eggs. Along with her angel dog Chérubine, she travels the world for a cure but nothing she tries works for her. Even after failure after failure she does not give up. She is determined to lay her own egg, and one day she finally does, but the egg is cracked. It is therefore not a viable egg. At this point, she does decide to give up, until her chicken friend, Dee, overhears her sadness and decides to take one of the three eggs she is currently laying on and says, ‘Please don’t be blue. I can’t think of a hen who’d be a better mommy than you!” Angelina is overjoyed and hugs the egg to her heart. “Soon the egg hatched and Angelina’s heart filled with joy! For she had a little baby chick, a bouncing baby boy!” This book clearly can be used to begin a discussion of egg donation with a child, but it can be used by any mother who has tried any path to motherhood through any method of ART as the author tried all of them. The book takes a child-conception approach and employs “the helper” and the “labor of love” scripts. There are full-color cartoon drawings and the book is recommended for ages 3-5.
Available: https://www.createspace.com/4452571
The child in the mamas' hearts: a story of assisted reproductive technology births for families with two mothers
by Paul Janson, M.D.
illus. by Kevin Scott Gierman
Language: English
Lulu, 2013
20 p. : col. ill. ; 22 x 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781304640314
My annotation: Two women love each other very much but feel something is missing in their house and in their lives - a child, yet both women feel that there is a child somewhere, it just resides in their hearts. They look everywhere for that child, but cannot find it. Eventually they see a doctor to help them have a child of their own and the doctor calls on others to help. With all the help they receive, one of the women becomes pregnant and they are very happy. When the baby finally arrives, both women know that this was the child that resided in their hearts all along. This is a touching story about the love one can have for a child that does not yet exist. The book does not indicate exactly what the “help” is that the doctor provided but that's fine as the book can be used as a starting off point to explain any method of third party conception. This book uses a family-building approach and employs the “helper” script. Full color, cartoon-like drawings depict a multi-racial family. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-janson/the-child-in-the-mamas-hearts/paperback/product-21310684.html
Author's Web site: http://pauljanson.com/
Merveille du monde
by Mireille van Seggelen
illus. by Anouk Braakhuis
Language: French
Budel [Netherlands] : MVS Creations, 2013
ISBN: 9789081114974
My annotation: This is one of a handful of books written in the second person. The book begins to explain sperm donation to children as young as three, yet does not use the words “sperm” or “donation.” The book explains how “seeds” from boys and eggs from girls are needed to make a baby. When they meet, “a baby starts to grow in Mummy’s tummy.” Sometimes however, there are no seeds that can meet with Mummy’s egg so a “kind man” is needed to “help” Mummy have a baby. Since this book is about sperm donation in which a woman does not have access to sperm, it is suitable for both single mothers by choice as well as lesbian women. It takes a child-conception approach and employs “the helper” script. Full-color cartoon drawings depict both women with partners and women without partners. Recommended for children ages 3-5.
Available: http://www.mvscreations.nl/une-petite-merveille-du-monde.html
Chloe wants to be a mother
by Rosa Maestro
illus. by Barbara Guillen Feltrer
Language: English
Editorial Chocolate, 2013
24 p. : col. ill. ; cm.
ISBN: 8494075624; 9788494075629
My annotation: Chloe wants to be a mother, but how? She does not have a man in her life. This is the story of a woman lucky enough to be granted a wish by a shooting star and of all the things she could have asked for, her one wish was to become a mother. One day she wakes up to find a box under her pillow containing the seed she would need in order to make a baby. With the box is also a note telling her to go see a doctor who could put the seed in her tummy. As promised by the shooting star, Chloe becomes pregnant and when Chloe’s daughter is born, she begins to tell her the story of the shooting star and how her wish to be a mother was granted. The shooting star makes one more trip back to see Chloe after her daughter is born to tell her that now that she has a family, she is not to forget that it is a “very special family,” and to tell her daughter “that she was born because you wanted her so much.” And so, this is the story that Chloe tells her daughter every night before bed. This book employs the “helper” and “families are made differently” scripts and takes both a child-conception and a family-building approach. The color illustrations are professionally rendered and it is recommended for ages 3-5. Also available in Spanish as Cloe quiere ser mamá.
Available: http://www.amazon.es/CHLOE-WANTS-TO-BE-MOTHER/dp/8494075624
Available: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chloe-wants-mother-Rosa-Maestro/dp/8494075624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391877181&sr=8-1&keywords=chloe+wants+to+be+a+mother
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