Growing Up. by Rachel Greener

An inclusive book for children about puberty and Growing Up.

Hi, I’m Cath Hak and welcome to Sex Ed Rescue.

Sex Ed Rescue is where I help parents to find a better and an easier way to talk

to their kids about love, sex, relationships, and growing up.

It’s also where I review lots of books like this one.

I’m really happy to be able to introduce this book to you.

It’s called Growing Up, an inclusive guide to Poverty and Your Changing Body.

And it’s written by Rachel Greener and illustrated by Claire Owen.

Now, there’s two of these books and they just look beautiful together.

Trying to line it up on the camera.

So this is the first one that I am always recommending to parents because it is

an inclusive way of explaining the different ways that babies are made.

And I got super excited when I discovered that they were also doing a Poverty book.

So I had my copy on order nearly six months ago.

So this is my own copy.

I don’t very often go out and buy books because when you’ve reviewed over 700

books, there’s not a lot of books I get excited over, and there’s not a lot

of books that I can justify having my own copy of.

So I got to keep licking my finger to turn the pages.

Their books are just beautiful and they

are truly inclusive, which is just lovely to see.

So it starts off by saying,

I’m going to give you a detailed review of this one just because I recommend

the book so often that I want to encourage you to buy it.

So it starts off with everyone started off

as a baby, and this is what I love about the inclusiveness is the diversity here.

It’s just lovely.

So it talks about the fact that we all

started off as babies, and then it poses that question,

how do you think you turn from being a child to an adult?

Before they go into that,

it starts off by talking about boys and girls and what that means.

It’s got some pictures here of some

different babies, and I just love this diversity.

It and then it talks a little bit about gender as well.

And then it says, well, what does that have to do with growing up?

Well, it actually has a lot because what your internal

sex is what dictates the changes that happen to your body during impurity.

So if you’ve got a uterus and ovaries, your changes that are going to happen

to your body are going to be driven by estrogen.

And if you’ve got testicles, it’s going to be driven by testosterone.

So the changes are going to be very different.

So I love the way that they introduce

the sex, and then they use that as a way to then lead into…

So your body will change.

And these changes happen because one day

when you’re older, you may want to make a baby.

And they talk about it as being pubity,

and then talk about how it happens and starts at a different time for people.

So then it talks about the first things

that you might start to notice, and this is not gender specific.

So this talks about all the changes

that all children will start to notice as they go through Poverty.

And then it starts off so for kids with a vagina or ovaries

that by the age of nine to 12, they’ll start to grow breasts.

And it also talks about the other changes that happen here as well.

And then it talks about periods

and why and how they happen, and then how you might manage periods

and different people manage them in different ways.

And then it talks about the people born of the penis, at the age of about 12

to 14, will start to get taller and more hairy as well.

And genitals grow as well.

Now, the only thing I don’t like about this book, if you can see, is the penis.

Oh, did you?

Can you see that?

Oh, it’s really hard.

Anyway, the penis is drawn in such a way that to me, I think it’s actually

circumcised because you can see the shape of the glands.

Now, usually or often,

you can see the shape of the glands under the foreskin, but not always.

These don’t even have a foreskin and you can see the urethra.

So on this page here,

it says that the testicles and the penis will start to grow.

And then it will also talk about the

foreskin, but it may have actually been removed as well.

So I just don’t like that page.

I just think that they could have actually maybe had a penis with a longer foreskin.

I also don’t like the fact that these penises are also similar in size.

It’s an inclusive book and it’s already got lots of diversity.

So why aren’t we actually seeing some diversity in here about genitals?

And even when we go back to the page here, yeah, we’ve got a lot of body stuff here,

but we could have actually had a body with just a little bit of pubic hair,

or maybe more pubic hair going up towards the belly button or down the legs.

This is the diversity that we need to start seeing more in books.

So I was a little disappointed with that section.

So then it talks about

erections and what that might mean, and also about wet dreams and sperm as well.

And then it’s also about pubity isn’t just about physical changes.

It’s also about about changes happening on the inside.

And it also talks about friendships starting to change as well.

And then it goes into boundaries because

this is an age where for some kids, they’re starting to think about romantic

friendships and dating and loving someone in a romantic way.

So it talks about consent and boundaries.

So here we got someone hugging someone,

and the person there in the green shirt is actually starting to say, Whoa, stop.

So I love that consent is in here as well, and it weaves it in really beautifully.

It also goes into social media and devices as well.

So it talks about how it’s a good way to communicate, but you do need to stay

safe as well, which I really do appreciate that they’ve got that in there.

And then it also talks about the fact

that one day you’re going to be a grown up, Pubity happens to everyone.

And it’s a unique and special experience as well.

And as I said, I just love the diversity and bodies that happen everywhere.

And then it’s got a bit at the back about some extra questions that you might have.

So that’s wrapped around, what is a person’s sex?

Why is online safety so important?

And then also different places that you can go to get extra help.

And then it’s also got a glossary at the back as well.

So that is a very comprehensive overview of this book.

As I said, I just love these books, and I truly do think that every family

should have a copy of this book and this one, both of them in their library.

So I was really pleased to see this first book come out, second book come out.

And I’m really curious to see if they’re

actually going to follow this up with any more books.

It’ll be interesting. Watch that space.

I really hope that they do come out with other books.

What I like about this book is that

they both won the illustrator illustrates books for a living.

The author writes children’s books.

But they’ve actually gone and liaised

with sex educators and people in the field in the UK to make sure that the books

they’re writing are actually factually accurate.

So anyway, that’s it from me about this book.

Definitely one you want to consider grabbing.

And also, it’s just such a beautiful book as well.

I just love the cover.

As I say, I read it through the about these books.

Okay, cheers.