A Children's Book Explaining Baby-Making? Here It Is

It's inevitable that parents will someday be asked "Where do babies come from?" and/or "Where did I come from?" by their children. And now, there's a children's book to help answer the question. But the book isn't that simple -- and not everyone is applauding it. Why? Because, as the the book's author Cory Silverberg describes, not everyone has a "nice story" of "mommy + daddy + intercourse = you!"

With that in mind, Silverberg is creating a new book -- "What Makes a Baby?" -- for parents to "[acknowledge] the help we get to bring children into our lives." The book will include information about the help parents can get to make a baby: "a doctor, fertility clinic, adoption or foster agency; it might be a turkey baster and a friend; it might be a sperm donor or a surrogate."

Watch Silverberg explain the onus for creating this book:

Silverberg states that the 32-page, hard cover book will be geared toward children of pre-school age up to 8 years old. Here's more information about the book, which will be illustrated by Canadian artist Fiona Smyth:

[...] What Makes a Baby is written and illustrated to include all kinds of kids, all kinds of adults, and all kinds of families -- regardless of how many people were involved, what the orientation, gender identity, or other make up of the family is, or how it came to be that way. It's a social justice approach to sex education. Like all picture books, it's meant to be read to a child and gives the adult reader the opportunity to fill in as much detail as they would like.

[...]

All children deserve stories that teach them not only about how they are unique, but also about what connects them to all other humans.  What Makes a Baby tells that story without leaving some people out because of their gender, orientation, or family make up.

Silverberg's main goal is to make sure some families aren't "left out" because traditional baby books don't include non-traditional methods or parenting types, but there is criticism for the message the book could spread. Life Site News has more on those questioning this book's potential influence:

“This poor man’s project is an amalgamation of the moral degeneration of the West,” said author, painter and cultural critic Michael O’Brien to LifeSiteNews.  “It is really about having what we want without consequences—and feeling good about ourselves in the process.

“Based in a profound ignorance about human nature, and about what makes for a healthy family, it is the next stage in the self-destruction of the traditional family and healthy society that was once the foundation of Western civilization.”

[...]

Dr. Christine Schintgen, children’s author and assistant professor of literature at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy in Barry’s Bay, Ontario told LifeSiteNews that she believes Silverberg’s project is “clearly an attempt at social engineering that is symptomatic of the Brave New World we now live in.”

“Instead of acknowledging the fundamental truth that sexual intercourse between a husband and wife is both the normal and the desired way to bring children into the world, this book will attempt to normalize morally problematic, and sometimes bizarre, forms of reproduction,” she said.

“Do we really want our children to grow up thinking that being the product of ‘a turkey baster and a friend’ is no different from being the fruit of a loving act of procreation between spouses?”

Financing for this book came through a non-traditional but increasingly popular means of funding. A site called Kickstarter, which has been used to fund endeavors such as "99% -- The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film" and "FrackNation" -- both of which the Blaze has reported on -- funds projects through donations by setting a dollar amount goal and a deadline. If that amount is reached through donations, the project moves forward. If the goal is not met within the proposed timeframe, all the donations are returned.

"What Makes a Baby?" has reached more than 550 percent of its goal, according to a Kickstarter blog post. With that, the book will most definitely make it into production. The initial financial goal was to raise $9,500. At the time of this posting the site has helped raise more than $57,900.

With its financial goal met, the author has issued a new benchmark of pre-selling 2,000 books by March 16. At this point, the cost of the book will drop. The money no longer being spent on book production, according to the author's post on the Kickstarter website, will go toward "increasing access to the book particularly for those who usually don't have access to high quality, inclusive sex education."

[H/T Blaze reader Karol O.]