Review: A loving way to share information about the beginning of life
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
Author Anat Umansky has written another excellent children's book beautifully illustrated by Eyvgeni Lagutin. There is an audio version of the book also (free with the purchase of the Kindle book) and the narrator is Michael Jarra. Umansky understands the importance of sharing realistic yet understandable information for children whose questions about the world they have entered are worthy of thoughtful answers. An example of her sensitivity is in this book about reproduction.Orly and Lior wonder where babies come from. Orly offers the Stork concept, Lior the center of a cabbage idea, and Orly suggests coming form the center of a flower. As bright youngsters they consider how a garden grows - planting a seed, watering it while the seed grows roots to find food from Mother Earth until it has the strength to emerge from the ground until it produces a flower. But they know you can't grow fish or animals by planting them in the ground so they seek advice from their parents (who are at work) and then their grandparents who are leaving on a trip. They turn to a book and there they learn the reproductive cycle of fish, ducks, and cats - and with each concept the reality of how they were born out of their parents love and decision to marry and have a family: a very well written and illustrated version of the joining of a sperm and an egg developing into a fetus and being born. Information from a book (this gives the children the idea that they discovered the truth on their own!) that will please both parents and children.This is a very successful and very sensitive and entertaining book for children - no half-truths, just honesty shared in a manner that makes it comfortably understandable! Grady Harp, December 13