Describes the processes of conception, gestation, and birth for young readers. - (Baker & Taylor)

Finalist for the 2014 Lambda Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult

“What Makes a Baby is extraordinary! Cory is a Dr. Spock for the 21st century.”—Susie Bright

“A Truly Inclusive Way to Answer the Question 'Where Do Babies Come From?': The new book What Makes a Baby offers an origin story for all children, no matter what their families look like." —The Atlantic

"This is a solid, occasionally quirky book on an important topic."—School Library Journal


Geared to readers from preschool to age eight, What Makes a Baby is a book for every kind of family and every kind of kid. It is a twenty-first century children’s picture book about conception, gestation, and birth, which reflects the reality of our modern time by being inclusive of all kinds of kids, adults, and families, regardless of how many people were involved, their orientation, gender and other identity, or family composition. Just as important, the story doesn’t gender people or body parts, so most parents and families will find that it leaves room for them to educate their child without having to erase their own experience. 

Written by sexuality educator Cory Silverberg, and illustrated by award-winning Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, What Makes a Baby is as fun to look at as it is useful to read. - (Random House, Inc.)

Kirkus Reviews

A sex educator and an artist with a graphics background craft an unusually flexible explanation of baby-making for sharing with young children. Silverberg's text and Smyth's inclusive illustrations work together not only to answer questions about where babies come from, but also to provide an opportunity for caregivers to share as much or as little about that particular child's history as they want. Eggs and sperm come together to share their stories, there's a uterus to grow in, people waiting for the child's birth and two possible ways to exit (through the vagina or through a temporary opening in the belly). The narrative leaves lots of room for child listeners to see their own stories, and it even invites conversation. "Who was waiting for you to be born?" Lively illustrations done with heavy lines inked in a cartoon style make extensive use of color à la Todd Parr. They feature children and adults of strikingly varying ages, skin colors (lots of greens, blues and purples, some grays, pinks and oranges) and apparent abilities or disabilities. This book was born as a Kickstarter project and self-published, first, in 2012. Designed for all kinds of children in all kinds of families, this will be particularly welcome in adoptive and nontraditional families but is, uniquely, an appealing and informative complement to early sex-education discussions with any child. (Informational picture book. 2-7) Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.