At a time when candor in publishing is being championed even as book banning is burgeoning, PW queried publishers about their recent or upcoming books navigating the challenges kids face during adolescence and puberty. The wide-ranging responses encompassed nonfiction and novels and ranged from picture books for youngest readers to guides for teens. What surfaced repeatedly were editors and authors’ passionate beliefs that today’s readers deserve books on these topics that are honest, inclusive, and accurate. Their commitment to publishing such titles is unflinching, despite the possibility of backlash or censorship.
“I have seen a large number of books being published about puberty and sex education in the past couple of years and I love it—the more information that’s out there, the better,” said Joy Bean, editorial director at Arctis Books USA, adding, “And the more candid the books are, the better. All the changes going on in a growing body can be confusing and overwhelming and kids need their questions answered. If we’re not candid, it leads to more questions and confusion.”
This conviction led to Bean’s acquisition of two books by Barbara Pietruszczak, due from Arctis on November 5: Understanding Adolescence for Girls: A Body-Positive Guide to Puberty and Understanding Adolescence for Boys: A Body-Positive Guide to Puberty, which are translated from the Polish by Agnes Monod-Gayraud and illustrated in full-color by Anna Rudak.
Bean explained that Pietruszczak, a sex and menstruation educator and journalist in Poland, “has been trying to break taboos and popularize knowledge about puberty for years. Her frank discussions about puberty and growing up focus on creating a positive relationship with your body, dealing with new emotions that might be overwhelming, and knowing what to say if you get unwanted remarks or questions.”
Filling Market Gaps
Multiple authors commented that they wrote their books to satisfy a need in the marketplace, exposed by either their own or other parents’ inability to find pertinent books for their kids. This was the motivating inspiration for the explicitly titled All About Penises: A Learning About Bodies Book and All About Vulvas and Vaginas: A Learning About Bodies Book by Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller, who have presented programs on sexuality topics nationally for two decades.
Published by Holt in April and illustrated by Tyler Feder, these picture books for ages three to seven were sparked by a request from Solot’s sister, who asked her to recommend a book to help answer her four-year-old’s questions about his penis. “I told her there wasn’t any such thing and she was shocked,” Solot recalled. “So, I asked her what would be in such a book if it existed, and she listed off a bunch of topics. I immediately sat down and wrote the first draft of All About Penises. From there it was easy to follow the same structure to write All About Vulvas and Vaginas.”
Solot emphasized the importance of raising children to be body-positive by talking to them about their bodies at an early age. “Reading a book together gives parents the words,” she said. “If you think it’s awkward to talk about penises and vulvas with a preschooler, it’s way more awkward to have those conversations for the first time when your kid is in middle or high school. Normalizing these topics when children are little lays the foundation for later, so they’ll continue to turn to you, not the internet or a peer on the schoolyard, as they grow up.”
Miller, who shares two daughters with Solot, underscored another pertinent aspect of their picture books. “It was important to us that they be inclusive,” he noted. “They’re about body parts, not genders. Either book can be read by a kid of any gender, including trans and non-binary kids.”
Opening Doors to Conversation
Helping adolescents find honest answers to their questions about their changing bodies is at the heart of two recent nonfiction books. Published in July by Union Square & Co., The Birds, and the Bees, and the Elephant in the Room: Talking to Your Kids About Sex and Other Sensitive Topics is written by Rachel Coler Mulholland, a nationally certified counselor and university professor whose TikTok videos for kids address such topics as bodies, puberty, consent, and sex.
The guide, Mulholland explained, grew out of her social media followers’ requests for a book consolidating information from her videos, which inspired her to blend information she had gathered from her research as a clinician and a parent and “amalgamate it into something both informative and entertaining for readers.”
Covering anatomy, consent, dating, gender, sexual orientation, and pornography, Mulholland’s book provides age-appropriate sample scripts for parent-child conversations, suggests how and when to initiate them, and offers guidance in using gender-neutral and inclusive language.
“I am so grateful to see more books on puberty and comprehensive sex education coming out,” Mulholland noted. “The research is clear—comprehensive sex education is protective for kids and teens in a myriad of ways. With a wide variety of books available, parents can jump in where they’re comfortable and find information before their kids ever ask a question.”
Published last month by Nosy Crow, Rachel Greener’s Growing Up: An Inclusive Guide to Puberty and Your Changing Body was spawned by the author’s determination to create a book that she needed for her own preteen—but could not find. Illustrated by Clare Owen, Greener’s overview of puberty covers biological sex and gender identity, emotional development, creating and respecting boundaries. and online safety and cyberbullying.
“My goal is for readers to finish this book feeling mentally equipped for the biological, psychological, and emotional changes they may encounter as they grow up,” Greener said, adding that she also hoped her book helps kids “build empathy for others and the confidence to keep asking questions.”
On the Fiction Front
The year’s robust crop of middle grade and YA novels encompassing themes of puberty and first love features some innovative approaches and voices.
In January, Atheneum released a new edition of Judy Blume’s trailblazing novel, Forever…, featuring an updated cover. Originally published in 1975, this was one of the earliest YA novels to deal frankly with a teenager’s first sexual experience. The book has sold 100,000 copies in North America since its last repackaging in 2014, with 2024 being the strongest sales year in a decade. Like many of Blume’s titles, Forever… has appeared repeatedly on lists of most challenged and banned books.
References to another of Blume’s classics, 1970’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, appeared in reviews of two March middle-grade novels. School Library Journal’s review of Ali Terese’s debut book, Free Period (Scholastic Press) drew a comparison to Blume’s book, as did a review in the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books of The World Divided by Piper by Caela Carter (HarperCollins/Quill Tree).
In Free Period, when two best friends are nailed for yet another prank, they make amends by joining their school’s community action club and spearhead the group’s campaign to ensure free maxi pads in the restrooms for menstruating students.
As Terese contemplated how to approach the subject of menstruation and period equity in a novel, her adolescent memories helped her out. “I remembered the physical pain and shame around my period as a kid, but I also kept coming back to the friendship and laughter—it was my friends who got me through it,” she said.
“I hope the novel lets people know that periods are not a gender issue, but a human issue,” Terese added. “We all have to talk candidly and accurately and bring periods out of the shadows.” She emphasized that she wrote her novel as a comedy, in hopes of “letting readers see themselves in the pages and letting them know that it’s okay if they don’t have everything figured out about what’s happening with their bodies—they are not alone.”
The title character of Carter’s The World Divided by Piper was diagnosed with early-onset puberty at the age of six and has been taking blockers to keep it at bay. But when her doctor suggests it’s time for her treatment to end, Piper worries that going through puberty will thwart her ambitious plans, including winning the academic decathlon with her best friend.
Carter, an educator and author of three previous middle-grade novels, was inspired to write this story after reading an article about a girl with a similar medical quandary. “I began to think about what might happen when a girl has agency over when she gets her period—and I wanted to explore that story, she said. “My challenge was to create a character who could carry off the role of an average 11-year-old who’s also a very sophisticated thinker.”
Candor and humor are pointedly balanced in The New Girl, a debut middle-grade graphic novel by Cassandra Calin, published by Scholastic Graphix in June; the book was selected as a Flying Start by PW. The plot—protagonist Lia’s first period arrives as she and her family are waiting to board a plane to emigrate to Canada from Romania—was inspired by Calin’s own experience as a young Romanian immigrant to Canada.
“Addressing themes of puberty directly and honestly is a great way to destigmatize it and allow readers to have a clearer understanding of what to expect and how to manage it,” Calin said, noting the value of adding humor to the mix. “Discussing challenges and uncomfortable topics in a lighter tone helps provide a different perspective. Lia’s clearly dealing with changes and struggles, but that’s okay. She’s human—we all are—and humor is a great way to remind us that we’re all collectively trying our best.”
Fittingly, Blume provided a blurb endorsing Jason Reynolds’s frank and funny Twenty-Four Seconds from Now…, a YA novel due October 8 from Atheneum’s Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. Told from the perspective of Neon, a Black teenager about to experience a monumental first with his girlfriend, this stream-of-consciousness story is built from a series of snapshots presented in reverse chronology—from 24 seconds to 24 months before the pivotal event—as the couple’s relationship unfolds and their intimacy grows.
“The novel “stands out for its absolute honesty and Neon’s unfiltered viewpoint,” said Dlouhy, Reynolds’s editor. “Jason is a skilled writer who knows innately when to bring in a new level of insight or humor. Everyone deserves their Neon—he is thoughtful and cautious, kind and compassionate, silly and embarrassed—and willing to be vulnerable.” And Blume’s advice to readers?: “Girls (and everyone) wait for your Neon!”
Dlouhy was hopeful that the apparent movement toward increased candor in literature and nonfiction for young adults will continue. “I have the sense that kids are becoming more open about their own sexuality at a younger age, and that the world is becoming more receptive to books for teens that explore intimacy honestly rather than skirt around it,” she said. “It seems to me that this is a natural progression. Ultimately, the best result is that books like Twenty-Four Seconds from Now, with language that is deliberately and carefully chosen and nothing lewd or salacious, will help open up conversations among kids and adults rather than close them down.”
