Who Has What?: All About Girls' Bodies and Boys' Bodies (Let's Talk about You and Me)

by Robie H. Harris

Hardcover, 2011

Status

Available

Call number

612.6

Series

Let’s Talk About You and Me

Collections

Children's Books, Flint/ Genesee, Body Awareness

Publication

Candlewick (2011), Edition: Illustrated, 32 pages

Description

This series for young children provides easy-to-understand facts and answers. Launching the series is Who Has What?, a simple story following Nellie and Gus on a family outing to the beach. Humorous illustrations, conversations between the siblings, and a clear text all reassure young kids that whether they have a girl's body or a boy's, their bodies are perfectly normal, healthy, and wonderful.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lquilter

This book was ALMOST really excellent. It had diverse characters (including an interracial family as the narrators); it was non-sexist in its presentation of kids' interests and abilities; and it pointed out that our bodies are more the same than they are different. The only problem -- but I think

it's a serious one -- is that its discussion of girls' bodies is seriously lacking. Boys' external genitalia are a penis and scrotum; girls', labia and a clitoris. But you wouldn't know that from reading this book, which discusses girls' external genitalia solely as "an opening to the vagina". This might not seem like a big deal, but given how confused kids are about their genitals, and this is a book trying to clear that up, then why doesn't it actually do it? Oy.

Anyway, recommended as long as your kid can't read, so that you, the adult, can amend the text appropriately.

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LibraryThing member Sullywriter

Great book for preschoolers about how bodies of boys and girls are similar and different.

LibraryThing member epalaz

This book explores the human body inside and out. It has very color illusrations that are graphic, but not offensive. This book could be used during health and p.e.

LibraryThing member MaryBethLingner

“Who Has What? All About Girls Bodies and Boys’ Bodies” was a book that I did not like. First, I did not like the book because it didn’t have a story line. The book followed two children and their parents as they took a trip to the beach and had a conversation about their bodies. However,

the characters were not developed at all and the book was mainly a manual for kids to investigate their bodies. The majority of the text was describing the similarities and differences between boys and girls bodies in a very simplified and boring way. The dialogue between characters was minimal and always in speech bubbles. An example of the basic text is seen through these lines, “Boys and girls have one chest, two nipples, one waist, one tummy, one bellybutton, one back, one bottom-two legs, two knees, two feet, two heels, and ten toes. So do women and men. And so do babies.” I think if children are old enough to learn about their “private” body parts they are too old for this type of babyish writing. Also, I think when discussing with children the topic of their developing bodies, the information needs to be presented in a funny way that will make them feel more at ease with the content. I think kids need to read a book of this nature with a storyline so they can relate to the characters and see that their bodies are normal just like the kids in the story. Secondly, I did not like, “Who Has What?” because on the pages where it was discussing the children’s genitalia it had pictures of them naked with arrows pointed to certain body parts labeling what they were. Like I said before this book was written in a way that young children would be reading it, and I think this would be too much for them to see. The book sent conflicting messages with its oversimplified writing and graphic pictures, making it hard to tell what age group would be appropriate to read it. The one good part of “Who Has What” was the central message. Besides teaching children about their bodies and the differences between males and females, the book’s central message was that all bodies are special and unique no matter what they look like. On the second to last page it says, “No matter what kind of body you have-a girl’s body or a boy’s body, or whatever shape, shade, or size body you have-there is no other body in the whole world just exactly like your body. And being you is what makes you so wonderful and so special!” Even though this is a very sweet and important message it doesn’t exactly fit within them theme of the book. Like I stated before, “Who Had What” was basically an informative manual for children to learn about their body parts. Nowhere in the book did it depict people with different shaped and sized bodies. Every male and female in the book was thin and able bodied which in my opinion does not reinforce the lines quoted above or give children a realistic image of what the majority of people look like. If the book was truly about teaching children to value their bodies no matter what they looked like, they would have made all their characters look unique and different from one another.

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LibraryThing member jpons

This informative book explains the differences between boys and girls bodies. It also points out the similarities shared between the two genders. I enjoyed the fact that the illustrators used different races while giving examples of the children's bodies. However, I did have a few problems with the

book. While I think that the language used throughout the book was appropriate, I'm not too sure about the pictures in it. If read to the younger grades I would be worried that the two genders would do show and tell to see if the book was right about what the "private parts" looked like. I believe that children should learn about their private areas from their parent's. I understand that as a teacher it is almost certain that a student will ask about their bodies I'm just not sure that going into this much detail is the right approach. Another issue I have with the book is that the message throughout the whole book is that no one person looks like anyone else in the entire world. Yet all the children in the books were about the same height and weight. I just feel that the illustrator could have made the children a bit more diverse.

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LibraryThing member epoche

Nellie and Gus go on a family outing to the beach. Nellie and Gus discuss all the things boys and girls both lie to do: run fast, catch frogs, cry, laugh and play catch. Everybody has a BODY! The parts on boys and girls are what make them different. Nellie and Gus call out all the body parts and

both girls and boys have them all, so they are confused. As a reader, we learn that girls have three openings between there legs while boys have a penis and scrotum. Girls have a vagina, a uterus and two ovaries and boys have testicles. We even learn that the uterus is where a baby grows and that women feed babies with their breast. Boys grow up and grow whiskers or mustaches and the man can feed the baby breast milk from a bottle. This books covers all the differences between boys and girls and even the changes they go through when they grow up. Perfect choice for that curious student in grades k-3.

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LibraryThing member tramtran

The book started off with Nellie and Gus, who are siblings, going out to the beach with their parents. They were asking questions about their bodies like many young children do. It is natural for them to be curious about the body. I think this is a good book for parents to teach their kids more

about the different parts of their body and how each work. I don't think this would be appropriate for a teacher to read for the entire class since it can get a bit personal. I like this book not only teaches kids about their bodies but also help them feel special and unique. I think it's important to teach kids at a young age to love themselves and feel good in their own body.

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