God Made Your Body

by Jim Burns

This is one of several books in the Pure Foundations series by Bethany House Publishers. This particular book is geared towards children age 3-5. The purpose of the Pure Foundations series is to teach children about sex in a healthy home environment. This can deter a child from only having a media eye’s unhealthy view of sex and sexuality in general. It also incorporates how God made each child special and this can also lead to a healthy self-image.

I really enjoyed the interactivity of this book. As the book describes how God has created everyone special, it also asks the child questions such as “What color are your eyes?” and “What are you good at doing?” The book really facilitates conversation between the reader and the child.

This book also brought up conversation between my husband and I. Since our little girl is only 18 months at the moment we were able to discuss the use of certain terminology. The book is very medical in nature in that it uses the words penis and testicles as well as vagina and womb. This got us to thinking about whether or not these are words we want our daughter taking off with her to school. Is it appropriate for a 3-5 year old to use those terms or would we like to use something different? However, the book isn’t 100% consistent in its “grown up” talk as it then goes on later to talk about mommies fixing “owies”.

I really like that the book talks about both doctors and midwifes delivering a baby as well as those families that are blessed with adopted children.

The book concludes with a short prayer of thanks and a scripture passage. Overall the book really is great for gradually introducing a child to the differences between boys and girls as well as for introducing the concepts of “making love” and the development of a baby.