How Will I Grow?

This book is the answer for those who seek a straightforward account of the story of human development for children of about seven years and over. It anticipates the questions children are most likely to ask and answers them with the help of engaging illustrations and labelled diagrams. Writing a book on this topic is challenging: Manning and Granström show sensitivity in judging what to include and what to leave out. Their reference to sex as ‘a special cuddle’ (together with diagrams of the developing male and female sex organs) prepares the way for the last year of primary school when, in the United Kingdom at any rate, the mechanics of sex are usually explained by the class teacher or the school nurse. The changes that take place at puberty are put in the context of a general explanation of development, beginning with learning to walk and talk in babyhood. The emphasis is on growing and learning with the strong message that while we are all different ‘you’ll always be you’. This is reassuring for young people who will undergo the hormonal upheavals of the teenage years. There are clear explanations of the changes that take place at puberty including the onset of menstruation and development of the sex organs. The book also manages to explain how puberty feels and prepares children for the mood swings all the physical changes can cause.