A Book Guide for Pre-Teens and Those Who Live With Them

The experts who teach For Girls and For Boys classes provide this list as a sampling of the many books available on puberty and sexuality. Take a look at these books and decide on those that best fit your needs and style of parenting. Learn more about classes for pre-teens and parents.

For All Pre-Teens

• Will Puberty Last My Whole Life? by Julie Metzger and Rob Lehman
• It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris
• It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies and Families by Robie H. Harris
• Sex, Puberty and All That Stuff: A Guide to Growing Up by Jacqui Bailey and Jan McCafferty
• What's Happening to Me? A Guide to Puberty by Peter Mayle

For Girls

• My Body, My Self for Girls by Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras
• My Feelings, My Self by Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras
• Period. by JoAnn Loulan and Bonnie Worthen
• The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls by Valorie Schaefer
• The Feelings Book: The Care and Keeping of Your Emotions by Lynda Madison
• The Period Book: Everything You Don't Want to Ask (But Need to Know) by Karen Gravelle and Jennifer Gravelle
• This is Me: A Girl's Journal by Julie Metzger.
• What's Happening to My Body? Book for Girls by Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras

For Boys

• Boy's Guide to Becoming a Teen by the American Medical Association
• My Body, My Self for Boys by Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras
• Puberty Boy by Geoff Price
• What's Going on Down There? Answers to Questions Boys Find Hard to Ask by Karen Gravelle with Nick Castro and Chava Castro
• What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys by Lynda Madaras and Area Madaras

For Parents

• Getting to Calm: Cool-Headed Strategies for Parenting Tweens + Teens by Laura S. Kastner and Jennifer Wyatt
• Wise Minded Parenting: 7 Essentials for Raising Successful Tweens + Teens by Laura S. Kastner with Kristin A. Russell
• Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters by JoAnn Deak with Teresa Barker
• How Can You Say That? What to Say to Your Daughter When One of You Just Said Something Awful by Amy Lynch with Linda Ashford
• Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The Heart of Parenting by John Gottman with Joan DeClaire
• Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood by William Pollack
• Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense About Sex by Deborah M. Roffman
• Talk to Me First: Everything You Need to Know to Become Your Kids' Go-To Person About Sex by Deborah M. Roffman
• Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent for You and Your Teen by David Walsh

For Parents of Youth with Disabilities

• Healthy Bodies – A Parent’s Guide to Puberty for Youth With Disabilities (PDF): girls’ book, girls’ appendix, boys’ book and boys’ appendix

To Learn More

• Visit GirlsHealth.gov for girls' health information for pre-teens.
• Read Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, 3rd Edition (PDF) for developmental guidelines for talking to children about puberty and sexual health.
• Get HPV vaccine information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Visit Sexuality Resource Center for Parents for information on how to teach children about human sexuality.
• Visit Amaze.org for videos for preteens and teens on sex education topics.
• Visit Teenology 101, Seattle Children's blog about parenting teens.
• Visit GreatConversations.com.
• Talk to your child's healthcare provider.

Information in these books does not necessarily reflect the philosophy or practice of Seattle Children's Hospital.