YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE: Teaching Your Child About Life Before Birth

Parents looking for a complete way to answer the question, "Where do babies come from?" may be disappointed in this scientifically accurate but lacking approach. While the production takes great care to provide proper terminology, it is disorienting to see children on a playground shouting in unison words like "zygote" and "fallopian tube." The video omits any mention of sex (arguably the most difficult part of the parent-child discussion), preferring to start with this explanation: "Your mother's body contains egg cells. Your father's body contains sperm cells. These cells join together and are fused." While a narrator's cloying voice explains the fusing of cells, an animated pink egg and blue sperm bat their eyes and wink at each other. After a synopsis of development in the first eight weeks of pregnancy, the narrator offers a recap in quiz-like fashion before moving on. Coverage of the birthing process amounts to a strong emphasis on the function of the umbilical cord. On the positive side, in utero photographs and a scene showing a pregnant woman receiving an ultrasound capture the sense of awe surrounding the miracle of a new baby. Throughout, lighthearted, candid footage features kids making such comments as "What?" "That's a hard word to say" and "I have no idea." This title provides many biological answers but will likely provoke a bevy of new questions. Ages 5-12. (Sept.)