Children's Book on Sex Education Causes Online Stir with Graphic Illustrations

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, and literally, there’s no book more appropriate for that statement than this one.

A children’s book is causing quite a stir on the internet -- in fact, some will argue if it’s even actually fit to be read by children. The book, called “How a Baby is Made”, is quite explicit.

It was written in 1975 by Danish writer, teacher and psychotherapist Per Holm Knudsen. Denmark and some of the other Scandinavian countries are known for having a progressive approach to sex education.
 
If your eye happens to drift to this book at the bookstore you’d think nothing of it. It has the illustrations and vibrant colors common among children’s books.

The normalcy continues on to the first spread. Nothing surprising.

But flip through the next page and this is what you'll see:

(Although the illustrations are actually sensible when read with the corresponding text.)

The next few pages show the couple in the act of reproducing...

And kissing...

Here, the author shows the little baby starting to grow inside the mother's womb.

After nine months, The baby’s fully grown! (And the parents are still naked.)

Time to go to the hospital

And have the doctor deliver the baby

Look, we can see the baby coming out!

“Ta-da!”

Reactions about this book are mixed. From Crysta-Mai Elassaad, who posted the original photoset on Facebook and started it all, she captioned this “#Traumatised!!!”

Others are supportive of the book. On a Huffington Post article on this story, Lea Powell Smith commented, “This is sensible and educative, factual and supportive, it is time sex education was honest.”

The book teaches about the basics of human reproduction, and it doesn’t beat around the bush. Since sex education is a touchy subject, would you let your child read it? Could this children’s book, depicting nudity and sex in a shame-free light, be a better alternative to the obscure science terms and diagrams used in classrooms?

Let us know your thoughts and leave a comment below!

All photos taken from Crysta-Mai Elassaad's Facebook post.

Sources:
June 12, 2015. "The internet’s getting freaked out by this book How A Baby Is Made". metro.co.uk
June 12, 2015. "'How A Baby Is Made' Book From The 1975 Leaves The Internet #Traumatised". huffingtonpost.co.uk
June 15, 2015. "'How a Baby Is Made' Might Be the Most Explicit Children's Book We've Ever Seen". mic.com