Kama Sutra for Kids

Banned Books Review #20
Written by ediblewoman.

Mommy Laid an Egg: Or Where Do Babies Come From?, by Babette Cole will be a fun addition to your next party! Just be sure that none of your guests are ages four through eight, the book’s intended age group. The material in this book is strictly for adult amusement! My boss bought this book to assist her in “The Talk” with her boys, but after reviewing it, she decided it was better to have a good laugh with her girlfriends and return it.

In the book, two hippy-looking parents inaccurately explain where babies come from using all the old lies people used to tell kids, like the stork, cabbage leaves, and as the title suggests, that mommy lays an egg. The kids know better, so they teach their parents the facts of life using cartoony crayon drawings. The illustrations are obscenely graphic.

First, the kids explain that mommy has a “hole” and daddy has a “tube” and “seed pods.” A crayon drawing illustrates where and how daddy’s tube goes into mommy’s hole. After this, there is a two-page spread of Kiddie Kama Sutra drawings, in which the mommy and daddy crayon figures get busy on a skateboard, while floating on balloons, dressed as clowns, and bent every which way.

I am not a prude. I have talked openly with my charges about a multitude of bodily questions, like why their testicles seem smaller when they get out of the bathtub and why playing with one’s penis is an activity to be enjoyed in private, not in the living room. Those discussions did not make me blush as much as I blushed when reading Mommy Laid an Egg. This book is just over the top.

The illustrations might be forgivable if the information were more precise. If you’d like your children to begin referring to their “hole” or “tube and seed pods,” go ahead and read them the book. If you’d prefer that they know the actual names of their body parts and you’d rather not have your children searching your bedroom for your clown suits, steer clear of this one. It makes sex seem like an activity young children might enjoy. I mean, if there are balloons and clown suits? Come on! What kid wouldn’t want to try that?

I’m giving it two stars out of five, because it is a creative approach and the writing isn’t terrible, but compared to the five-star sex-ed books out there, Mommy Laid an Egg is silly and inaccurate. Young children should read the classic How You Were Born, by Joanna Cole (no relation). Its photos and illustrations are anatomically accurate while remaining modest.

Mommy Laid an Egg: Or, Where Do Babies Come from? by Babette Cole is available for $8.95 new on Amazon.com.