The Curiosity Book

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening...Insightful...Compassionate...Courageous.
Review: Enlightening...Insightful...Compassionate...Courageous. These are some of the attributes which, in my judgment, describe The Curiosity Book. Calling upon his diverse and rich professional experience with children and adolescents, the author, James Hunter, has developed a unique and extremely practical guide which should be of invaluable help to both parents and a wide range of professionals within the mental health and education fields. The Curiosity Book is written with a great deal of sensitivity and respect for the human body itself and, more importantly, the need to promote positive attitudes involving the human body. It is ironic that while most of us in today's society who consider ourselves to be caring adults frequently encourage children to be curious about their learning, their environment, and their friends, we, at the same time, typically discourage, ignore, or even punish children when they express curiosity about the human body -- their own or others. Thus, many children learn to view this type of curiosity as bad or as shameful. The Curiosity Book provides specific, sensitive suggestions whereby parents and child care professionals can engage in effective, healthy communication with children about the human body - developmentally, attitudinally, and spiritually. The photos contained in this book have been carefully selected to convey tolerant, respectful, and meaningful messages. They are inspiring and beautiful both in their simplicity and in their poignancy. As is the case with the narrative material contained in this work, the photos reflect a very well-balanced perspective relative to attitudes involving the human body - age, gender, and cultural diversity. I enthusiastically recommend The Curiosity Book to all parents and to all professionals in their efforts to help children develop more positive attitudes toward, and a more respectful appreciation of, the human body. William E. Davis, PhD Director of the Institute for the Study of Children At Risk University of Maine Orono, Maine

Rating:
Summary: For parents to open sex discussions with young children
Review: Finally, a book has been published for children that unabashedly shows how people look to satisfy a child's natural curiosity about human bodies: young & old; boy & girl; man & woman; black & white; large and small. The Curiosity Book is an owner's manual on positive body awareness for young children and their caregivers. It is simply written for use by adults with children - full of photos - written so parents can insert their own family values while discussing very sensitive issues with their child including the sensitive topic of good touch - bad touch. It is a far better way for children to satisfy their natural curiosity about what people look like without resorting to commonly used magazines containing suggestive nude poses. This book is for parents who know that they should talk to their kids, but don't know how to get started. James Hunter presents a positive way of opening up communications between children and adults with this simply written book full of photographs to satisfy a child's curiosity about how people look. This book will help parents with the many difficult issues they need to discuss with a child: When is nakedness appropriate? How permissive should we be with regard to sexual exploration? What makes any given sexual behavior either right or wrong? What should be done about masturbation? How should I respond to my children's curiosity about bodies and sex? What impact will shame have on my children? Are nakedness, sex, and religious values necessarily in conflict? Easy answers cannot be given to all of these questions; however, this book can help parents by enabling children to ask questions, satisfying their own healthy curiosity.

Rating:
Summary: The Curiosity Book
Review: I recieved this book and was very disappointed. I have a 2 year old who is becoming very curios about his body and I wanted to purchase a book that would help my husband and I to teach him about healthy sexuality. Since it shows a toddler on the cover and when we purchased the book there wasn't any customer reviews at the time, I purchased the book. However, when I received the book, I was very disappointed. Not only does it not give any truly helpful information, but I found it almost pornographic. It is not a book that I would want to share with my 2 year old child and probably wouldn't want to until my child is a teenager. Bodies are a beautiful creation, and this book should have a description stating what this book actually entails....pictures and very little information. It is not a book that will help people who are wanting to read plenty of information on helping to mold their children's ideas on healthy sexuality.

Rating:
Summary: A marvellous resource for parents
Review: James Hunter has created a marvelous resource for parents to introduce to their children the wonders of the human body; its beauty, ability and diversity. A picture speaks a thousand words, and The Curiosity Book's exquisitely moving and sensitive photographs express volumes about positive communication and affection between people. Children who grow to love themselves and their fellow humans will contribute to the development of a happier, healthier society. The Curiosity Book's celebration of being human is a great contribution toward such a development. Dr. Felicity Goodyear-Smith MB ChB DipObst MRNZCGP Auckland, New Zealand Author of First Do No Harm: the sexual abuse industry

Rating:
Summary: For adults who care about the welfare of young children
Review: Most parents, teachers, and others who work closely with children will undoubtedly agree that it is not easy, in talking to young children, to enter the territory of sexuality. Should one avoid all discussion of such matters, even if a child should ask about them? And if one should not, how graphic should one be? What should properly be talked about, and what should be left for later years? One wishes for sensitive pictures to look at, with a few simple statements about them, so that adults would not have to rely on their own descriptive language, but could sit down with children, with a little children's book in hand, and talk about the pictures together, always following the child's lead. James Hunter's The Curiosity Book fulfills that wish. Very briefly, in children's terms, the book illustrates differences in human bodies. We see people of different color skin, of different ages, wearing different amounts of clothing, or no clothes at all. We see people of different sizes - for example, a huge man holding an infant. We see people of different shapes, including a woman in the last stages of pregnancy. We see differences in the bodies of children and grown-ups, and of men and women. All this is illustrated in the most simple, direct, and natural way. One cannot imagine a better tool for parents, educators, or mental health workers to use, for opening up, in children's terms, facts with regard to which all children, at one time or another, are curious about. The Book also serves a very practical and necessary purpose in today's world. Very subtly it illuminates for young children something about the sexual character of their bodies, and so prepares them for an awareness that not all actions are appropriate for adults to engage in. Such light could become a very important defensive tool. Very briefly, I strongly recommend this little book to all adults who are in any way responsible for the well being of a young child. Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr. Professor of New Testament, Emeritus Bangor Theological Seminary

Rating:
Summary: Such a wonderful book!
Review: Some people think this is a "sex education" book for kids. I don't, necessarily -- although it certainly is a great item in the toolbox parents can have for this topic.

"The Curiosity Book" starts with a nice introduction by the author, which is helpful, but he then does something wonderful: he stops the wordy text, and lets beautiful photos and carefully-selected captions and quotations carry the message. [In fact, this could almost stand alone as a photobook.]

Old and young; white, black, yellow, brown, and all shades in between; male and female; clothed and nude. The beautiful black-and-white photos present a wide array of people from all over the world. They are presented as they are, with no explanations or apologies for how they look, what they wear, who they are. The accompanying captions reinforce the message that we are all wonderfully-created, we all share similar bodies, and we all deserve respect. This is not so much "sex education" as "self education."

If only we could all receive this message every day!

Rating:
Summary: Such a wonderful book!
Review: Some people think this is a "sex education" book for kids. I don't, necessarily -- although it certainly is a great item in the toolbox parents can have for this topic.

"The Curiosity Book" starts with a nice introduction by the author, which is helpful, but he then does something wonderful: he stops the wordy text, and lets beautiful photos and carefully-selected captions and quotations carry the message. [In fact, this could almost stand alone as a photobook.]

Old and young; white, black, yellow, brown, and all shades in between; male and female; clothed and nude. The beautiful black-and-white photos present a wide array of people from all over the world. They are presented as they are, with no explanations or apologies for how they look, what they wear, who they are. The accompanying captions reinforce the message that we are all wonderfully-created, we all share similar bodies, and we all deserve respect. This is not so much "sex education" as "self education."

If only we could all receive this message every day!

Rating:
Summary: The Curiosity Book is meant to open communication.
Review: The purposes of the Curiosity Book are to convey a positive attitude toward the body, to validate and satisfy curiosity, and to open communication between children and their caregivers. I hope that counselors and teachers will use it and find it helpful. But it is especially parents that I had in mind as I worked out the final draft. Above all it is a book that is meant to be a point of sharing between adults and children. The proper setting for using this book is with the whole family gathered on the couch, with the T.V. turned off and a big bowl of pop-corn on the coffee table. I'm very interested in hearing from parents or other caregivers regarding their experiences with this book.