Books that Teach Kids About Puberty and Their Bodies

Like most 80s kids, I learned about getting your period by reading Are One There God, it’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume, and learned about sex from a passed around bookmarked copy of Forever. Literally, the girls passed it under their desks in class in 6th grade and I remember reading the particular passage ten times before I passed it on, because I could not fathom WHAT they were talking about. Ralph??? Even harder to imagine than Ralph was me talking about any of this with my parents. I graduated from Judy Blume by sneaking over to the romance section in the book aisle of the grocery store whenever I went shopping with my mom. “I’ll just be over here checking out the Sweet Valley High books! I’ll meet you in 20 at the register!” Meanwhile, I hid copies of Danielle Steele novels inside the bindings so anyone passing by saw a cover with Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield on top.

This generation of parenting is a little bit different. We might still feel awkward talking about puberty and sex with our kids, but we know the benefits. Like feeling more comfortable about your body, disassociating sex with shame, and teaching all genders about consent. An open, continuing dialogue about how our bodies work, puberty and sex is part of our job. Especially since kids today can get a much faster, scarier education online than we ever had access to in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

One of the new features for paid subscribers is the the “Big Kid Support Group,” which is my attempt to create a safe space for readers to discuss more sensitive parenting topics relevant to big kids, tweens and teens. The first discussion was about puberty. Within that thread, there were a lot of book suggestions, so I thought a great way to make the private group a benefit to everyone was to ask those readers to expand on their recommendations.

Below are 16 books about puberty and the human body, for kids of all ages and genders, recommended by this community. Some parents read them with their kids, some let them read the books on their own. Hopefully you can read through the descriptions and determine which book would be the best fit for you and your child. Books, after all, are the easiest way to get the conversation started.

1) The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls, By Valorie Schaefer and illustrated by Josee Masse

“Just before my daughter turned 10, I introduced her to American Girl’s The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls. I gave her the choice of reading it together or separately and then discussing each section. She chose to read it on her own and discuss. The book is broken down into different sections related to some of the changes girls experience - more basic self-care (hair brushing, face washing, etc) to things like acne, breast growth, and periods. The book emphasizes things like "it's not a race" and that people will all develop at their own pace. It allowed a good starting off place for her to ask questions and expand on different aspects of the changes ahead. In addition to the book, there is also a journal which I did not use with my daughter, but have utilized in the past in my work as a therapist. It's full of different activities that help promote positive self-esteem and self-image.” - Andrea T

There is also The Care and Keeping of You 2: The Body Book for Older Girls and a companion journal.

2) It's Not the Stork!: A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families and Friends, By Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Michael Emberley

“I got It’s Not the Stork because a friend was pregnant and I knew I’d do better with a book than on my own when my son had questions. It gave him appropriate language for all body parts and a very basic understanding of how babies are made without being too in depth. My son requests to read it regularly and I feel like it’s helping me get over feeling awkward about having a sex talk with my kid, since he’s still too young to notice that I feel awkward about it. He really likes the bird and bee narrators who provide some levity— one is excited to know about the topic while the other is uninterested/embarrassed, so I think a lot of kids would relate to one or the other.” - Renee W

The same series also features two other books: It's So Amazing!: A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families and It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender, and Sexual Health.

3) Amazing You!: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts, By Gail Saltz and illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath

“Amazing You! Getting Smart About Your Private Parts is a picture book designed for young children who are starting to ask questions about sex but who are not yet ready to learn about sexual intercourse. As a parent, the book gave me all the clear and age-appropriate information I needed for my then 7-year old daughter, using simple and straightforward explanations and great illustrations. I would recommend it for any parent who wants to give clear and honest answers without getting into too much detail.” - Maria Carmago

4) Celebrate Your Body (and Its Changes, Too!): The Ultimate Puberty Book for Girls, By Sonya Renee Taylor

“Celebrate Your Body authentically celebrates and explains the changes of puberty, detailing everything from breasts to why showering matters to eating in easy to understand ways, while empowering kids to take leadership and understand what’s happening with their bodies. Our family read Celebrate Your Body together aloud, my husband and I taking turns reading. This allowed the three of us to not only have the same information during an important developmental time, but launched conversations and questions which now have eased the changes as they are happening.” - Becky Boland

You can also find Celebrate Your Body for Boys: The Ultimate Puberty Book for Boys.

5) Celebrate Your Body 2: The Ultimate Puberty Book for Preteen and Teen Girls, By Dr. Lisa Klein and Dr. Carrie Leff

“Celebrate Your Body 2 is not a duplicate of the original Celebrate Your Body. Rather, it's a different book with a slightly older audience in mind that has a lot more detailed information than the original. They really focus on the emotional as well as physical aspects of puberty here. There's a lot of great information about changing bodies and how to take care of your body, but they also discuss things like consent, body positivity, social media and technology, masturbation, gender and sexual identity, relationships, depression, and anxiety. So you know, everything. My kid loves this book, and comes back to it all the time, which is the highest praise I can give it.” - TE

5) The Girls’ Guide to Growing Up, By Anita Naik and illustrated by Sarah Horne

“I came across The Girls’ Guide to Growing Up when my daughter turned 9 and started to ask questions about her body. It really helps facilitate our conversations on puberty and body changes. She chooses a topic and we read the chapter together; I then give her the opportunity to ask me any questions about what we just read. The best part is that the books is inclusive and explores not just the ‘traditional’ aspects of girl's puberty, but also sexual intercourse and male puberty. I would highly recommend this book to others.”  - Mellissa Johnson

6) Consent (for Kids!): Boundaries, Respect, and Being in Charge of YOU, By Rachel Brian

“Consent for Kids is a very engaging book. We love the comic style and silly examples that are easy to remember and apply in real life. It’s not just about touching/physical consent but also healthy vs unhealthy relationships and what to do if you feel unsafe. Hopefully my son won’t have to apply that knowledge, but at least he has the words for it and knows he can talk to me or another trusted adult. We refer to this book often and I think the concepts will be easy to expand on in the future. ” - Renee W

7) Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human, By Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan

“You're not going to get more sex positive than this! This is a wonderful, sex-positive graphic novel for teenagers. I would say 14-15 years+, but that really depends on your kid. They talk about consent, gender identity, disabilities, relationships, sexting, body positivity, masturbation, and the emotional aspects of sex really quite well. There is a lot in here that will make many (most!) parents uncomfortable, but I think it's super worth challenging yourself, and even the book in places— I don't agree with everything but that just becomes part of the discussion. It's certainly a great way to open up communication with your teenager.” - TE

8) Go with the Flow, By Karen Schneemann and Lily Williams

“This is a super fun middle grade graphic novel that is 100% about menstruation. But also about fighting for what you believe is right, friendship, bullying, and equitable access to pads and tampons. There is a lot of information about periods and removing the stigma associated with them, and also a focus on how there are nonbinary people and trans men who also menstruate. My kid is nonbinary, and they light up whenever they recognize a book like this being inclusive to them.” - TE

9) What’s Happening To My Body? Book for Boys, By Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras

“What’s Happening To My Body is written by a mom and daughter who teach Sex Ed. The focus is on de-stigmatizing the conversation and helping boys to understand that all bodies are different and those differences are normal. There are a lot of illustrations that showcase how bodies and body parts can be different and celebrates that uniqueness. It also goes into more detail about sex and the different ways sex and love can be expressed. I think this is a great book if you are looking to educate your son on puberty and sex.” - Sarah K

You can also find the companion book for boys here: What’s Happening To My Body? Book for Girls.

10) Growing Up Great!: The Ultimate Puberty Book for Boys, By Scott Todnem

“I like Growing Up Great! It describes male puberty in a casual but informative way. Each chapter is a short, easy read. It was important to me that the book was diverse too, so I love that it has illustrations that show different body types, colors and abilities. It covers body changes, grooming, growth spurts, personal boundaries, internet safety and more. It touches on sex and female puberty, but its main focus is males. This book was a hit as a read-aloud with my boys— it fostered some giggles and great conversation.” - Sarah K

11) Puberty Is Gross but Also Really Awesome, By Gina Loveless and illustrated by Lauri Johnston

“You get the whole picture with this honest, fun and empowering book, best for tween years! (9-12yo) It’s easy to read, the author uses inclusive language for gender and the book offers plenty of resources, tips, anecdotes, colors and cultural reference to keep everything highly interesting and informative. I highly recommend reading with your child. Both because the information is important and because it helps create a bridge of trust between you and your kid, so when they have doubts, they know they can come to you.” - Andrea Alverado

12) The Human Body Factory: A Guide To Your Insides, By Dan Green and illustrated by Edmond Davis

“This book is beautifully detailed and takes kids on a journey all around the body, as if the body were a working factory. The illustrations feature people working within the body to make each part function, and body parts are likened to departments e.g. the brain is the head office, circulation is the transport division, etc. Speech bubbles using scientifically accurate terms explain what goes on inside the body in simple language. The amount of information on each page is amazing, and helps kids to understand exactly how different parts of our anatomy work, separately and together.  There's enough random facts to keep them amused too, and a free poster! It's a general anatomy book, but includes pages on reproduction and pregnancy rather than specific puberty facts. Best for kids 8+.” - Sarah H

13) See Inside Your Body, By Katie Daynes and Colin King

“This is great for kids 5+ who have questions about how their body works, to prepare for curiosity and larger questions later. Each page has lift up flaps to help little minds explore the functions and processes of different biological systems. Each page is wonderfully visual with easy to understand facts. It doesn't directly address puberty because it’s aimed at younger kids, but it does talk about anatomy and biology which is knowledge that will be easy to build on as their bodies change.” - Sarah H

14) 30 Days of Sex Talks: Empowering Your Child with Knowledge of Sexual Intimacy

“This three part book series includes sex talks by age, starting with 30 Days of Sex Talks for age 3-7, then age 8-11 and finally age 12+. The books really push you to have discussions that can at first seem uncomfortable, but end up creating useful talks. I like how they broke it down into digestible separate talks, but found I didn't follow their exact timeline. Sometimes, we did two or three talks in one day. They are age appropriate and take it slowly.” - Katie E

Books and other resources for parents:

15) Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen: The Essential Conversations You Need to Have with Your Kids Before They Start High School, By Michelle Icard

“This book is wonderful! The author absolutely understands teens and tweens. The insight and tips in this book are amazing and presented in real life ways. The book is easy to read and engaging, no textbook here.” - Katie E

16) Talk to Me First, By Deborah Roffman

“I knew when I had kids (mine are now 12/10/6) that I wanted to do some things differently than my parents.  One of them was creating an openness around all things related to puberty and sexuality. I knew what I wanted but not how to accomplish it. I sought out someone who had done it differently and could share a framework and outcomes that were possible. Talk to Me First has provided that guide for me and my family. The author is a long-time sex education professional who sees the results first hand of parents who aren't being a source of info for their kids on this topic. She is down to earth and provides great perspective on how avoiding the topics that make you uncomfortable can have really bad outcomes for your kids. And, really, how much of the avoidance says more about you than your kids. Kids learn over time through day-to-day interactions, not through a one time speech "when they are ready". The fact that many of us still approach puberty and sex topics as something that should be taught with a one-time speech is not helping our kids. Talk to Me First provides practical information for a much needed alternative approach.” - Rebekah K

In addition to books, there were a few people who mentioned helpful podcasts for parents such as “Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting,” “The Puberty Podcast,” and “The Amaze Parents Podcast.”

If you have any additional suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

If you would like to see the full discussion on puberty, as well as last week’s discussion on determining when your child is ready for a cell phone, you can upgrade your subscription at any time. That will also give you the opportunity to ask your own questions to be discussed by the group!