Who Has What?: All About Girls' Bodies and Boys' Bodies

by Robie H. Harris, Nadine B. Westcott (Illustrator)

Overview

First in the “Let's Talk About You and Me" series.

Young children are curious about almost everything. Asking questions is one of many ways they learn about themselves and the world around them. Now, this unique series for our youngest children provides easy-to-understand facts and answers to their delightful, thoughtful, and often nonstop questions. Launching the series is WHO HAS WHAT?, a simple story following Nellie and Gus on a family outing to the beach. Humorous illustrations, conversations between the siblings, and a clear text all reassure young kids that whether they have a girl’s body or a boy’s, their bodies are perfectly normal, healthy, and wonderful. Authoring the series is Robie H. Harris, whose nonfiction books are known as the source for addressing kids’ questions about themselves, their families, and their friends. Nadine Bernard Westcott’s accurate and entertaining illustrations offer an inviting way for children to discover straightforward, fascinating information about themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763629311
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/13/2011
Series:	Let's Talk about You and Me
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	145,043
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Robie H. Harris (1940-2024) is the New York Times best-selling author of the acclaimed Family Library series—It’s Perfectly Normal, It’s So Amazing!, and It’s Not the Stork!—illustrated by Michael Emberley; CRASH! BOOM! A Math Tale, illustrated by Chris Chatterton; and Somewhere, illustrated by Armando Mariño. She is also the author of the Let’s Talk About You and Me series, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott, and many other books for young children.

Nadine Bernard Westcott is the illustrator of more than fifty books, including Supermarket! and Up, Down, and Around. She lives in Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

Harris, the guardian angel of parents facing their school-age child's questions about sex, tackles the preschool set in this first book in the Let's Talk About You and Me series. Readers follow Gus and his older sister, Nellie, on a family trip to the beach; the relaxed environment enables Westcott to riff on the central theme that "Everybody everywhere has a body!" and to show Gus and Nellie's anatomy (including key internal organs) as they change into swimsuits. Harris understands just how much her audience wants and needs to know about sex: adult bodies are out, family dogs are in ("Hey, boy puppies have a penis too," notes Gus). The text is somewhat repetitious, and the dialogue forced and chirpy as Harris delineates everything, body parts and otherwise, that makes boys and girls similar and different ("Boys and girls like to catch frogs, swing high up in the air, ride scooters, and make a lot of noise"). Nonetheless, it's a sunny, useful introduction to anatomy that kicks some gender stereotypes to the curb in the process. Ages 2–6. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

The book serves as a great way to introduce male and female body parts for anyone not used to discussing or naming them.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Harris' tone is cheerful and confident... Westcott's bright digital illustrations keep the affair as breezy and non-shocking as possible — just as it should be. Expect the usual outcry, as well as the usual demand.
—Booklist (starred review)

This much-needed title stands out for its comfortably familiar presentation of material adults sometime find difficult to share with young children.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 2—This is a straightforward presentation, as told through simple exposition and the dialogue of a young girl and boy who are going to the beach for the day. As the youngsters chat with one another about their similarities and differences, readers are greeted with visually appealing cartoonlike drawings that depict an array of people in various family groupings. As the two children change in their separate cabanas, arrows point to and name the parts of their bodies that distinguish them as male or female. A dog (of the same sex as the child) has crept into each child's cabana so its parts are labeled, too. Correct terminology is used, e.g., vagina, scrotum, penis, ovary, uterus, but Harris does not delve into how these body parts function, and she doesn't address the reproductive process. The book serves as a great way to introduce male and female body parts for anyone not used to discussing or naming them. For a more comprehensive look at body parts, reproduction, and birth, check out Harris's It's Not the Stork! (Candlewick, 2006).—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID

School Library Journal