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A review by simonlorden
The Every Body Book of Consent by Rachel E. Simon
4.0
I received a copy through NetGalley, and this is my honest and voluntary review.
"Consent, just like trust, isn't something you get from someone and have forever."
I like to read LGBTQAI-inclusive books for kids sometimes, because I didn't have any of those given to me when I was a kid. This book deals with the topic of consent, which goes far beyond sexual consent - it can be as simple as not wanting somebody to hug you, which is something kids often don't get a choice about.
I think this book was good at explaining consent and agency in an easy-to-understand way, but you definitely need an adult to go along with the kid, because there were a couple of bigger concepts that weren't really explained. For example, there was a practice part where it just told you to practice "waiting your turn and feeling impatient (delaying gratification, impulse control)". I feel like delaying gratification is a complicated word and concept that should be explained a bit more than just throwing it out in brackets?! But nothing, it's not even part of the glossary at the end. I also expected more practice exercises after that, but there weren't any.
What I really liked is that the book refers to "trusted adults" as opposed to parents, since not everyone has parents, or their parents might not be trusted adults. I do feel like the concept could have been "explained" a bit more and sooner.
The illustrations were very nice, colorful, pleasing to the eye, and most of all they presented a diverse range of people in ability, race and gender. I liked that in the section about pronouns, the appearance of the speaker didn't always match what you would associate with that pronoun - for example, a typically feminine kid was saying he likes to use both he and she pronouns.
"Consent, just like trust, isn't something you get from someone and have forever."
I like to read LGBTQAI-inclusive books for kids sometimes, because I didn't have any of those given to me when I was a kid. This book deals with the topic of consent, which goes far beyond sexual consent - it can be as simple as not wanting somebody to hug you, which is something kids often don't get a choice about.
I think this book was good at explaining consent and agency in an easy-to-understand way, but you definitely need an adult to go along with the kid, because there were a couple of bigger concepts that weren't really explained. For example, there was a practice part where it just told you to practice "waiting your turn and feeling impatient (delaying gratification, impulse control)". I feel like delaying gratification is a complicated word and concept that should be explained a bit more than just throwing it out in brackets?! But nothing, it's not even part of the glossary at the end. I also expected more practice exercises after that, but there weren't any.
What I really liked is that the book refers to "trusted adults" as opposed to parents, since not everyone has parents, or their parents might not be trusted adults. I do feel like the concept could have been "explained" a bit more and sooner.
The illustrations were very nice, colorful, pleasing to the eye, and most of all they presented a diverse range of people in ability, race and gender. I liked that in the section about pronouns, the appearance of the speaker didn't always match what you would associate with that pronoun - for example, a typically feminine kid was saying he likes to use both he and she pronouns.