A podcast interview with Dorion Solot on The Growing Readers Podcast, a production of The Children’s Book Review.
In this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast, sexuality educator Dorian Solot discusses her new children’s books, co-written with Marshall Miller, in the Learning About Bodies series.
Content note: This episode discusses private parts matter-of-factly and uses anatomically correct words. Parents may wish to preview it before listening with children.
Dorian Solot shares insights on providing kids with accurate, age-appropriate information about their bodies and the challenges of creating sensitive content. All About Vulvas and Vaginas and All About Penises cover topics like proper terminology and consent, with artwork by Tyler Feder that is engaging, inclusive, and anatomically correct. Solot offers tips for parents on approaching these conversations and becoming “askable parents.” This episode provides a valuable perspective on empowering kids with knowledge and body autonomy.
Dorian Solot Talks About:
- The importance of providing kids with accurate, age-appropriate information about their bodies
- Challenges of creating sensitive content about anatomy for children
- Ensuring the books’ artwork by illustrator Tyler Feder is engaging, inclusive, and anatomically correct
- Teaching proper terminology for genitalia
- Incorporating themes of consent, privacy, and body autonomy
- Preventing child sexual abuse through education and openness
- How parents can approach these topics to become approachable “askable parents”
- Laying a foundation of knowledge through many small conversations over time
- The upcoming book “Ingredients to Make a Baby” about reproduction (coming in 2025)
- Empowering kids with knowledge and body autonomy from a young age
Listen to the Episode
Read the Transcription
Bianca Schulze
Hi, Dorian. Welcome to The Growing Reader’s Podcast.
Dorian Solot
Thank you so much. What an honor to be here with you.
Bianca Schulze
Oh, my gosh. I think the honor is all mine. I’m so excited to talk about your new books, but I think I want to start with probably the most vanilla-flavored question of the day before we launch right into talking about penises and vulvas and vaginas. So, what’s one thing that you do in your day-to-day practices that you think would be either the most surprising or the most relatable to our listeners?
Dorian Solot
Oh, how funny. Well, I’m a sexuality educator first and an author second, and so I’m essentially a working mom. And I think people, when they hear that I’m a sex educator, they’re like, whoa, what an incredible job and sort of forget that I don’t spend all day talking about sex, and I don’t spend all day thinking about sex. I spend most of my day doing the same thing that every other mom does. Also, even as an educator, I spend most of my time planning travel and making my way through giant to-do lists and really trying to find a little bit of time here and there to squeeze in some thinking about sexuality. So sex is really a small part of my whole life.
Bianca Schulze
Awesome, awesome. Well, this is probably going to be the one reader-writer question that I want to ask just to kind of get to know you a bit more. But they do say often that to be a writer, that you need to be a reader first. I’m wondering if you felt with writing your books, reading was something that helped you, and then also was there a pivotal moment in your life that you considered yourself a reader?
Dorian Solot
I was such a bookworm as a child, and I’m still very much a reader. I always have, you know, a book in every bathroom because that’s when moms get our time to read. So, yes, I definitely did a lot of reading, and I spent a lot of time and still do. My kids are big now. They’re twelve and sixteen, but we still read before bed. The sixteen-year-old is a little harder to eke out the time, but she still wishes that we had time every night, and we do sometimes. And the twelve-year-old is definitely still on the every-night schedule. So, yes, I think I learned so much about writing from reading books, from living a life that’s just immersed in books overall.
I have a very clear memory of being a child, learning to read and sitting with my mom and reading her the book A Kiss for Little Bear. I love all the Little Bear books and still do. And I remember there was a word in that book, ok, but I was just learning how to read, and so I pronounced it ok (awk), and my mom very gently and kindly said, oh, that’s the word ok. And I remember just being mortified. I must have been so young, but I was so embarrassed that I could misread a word as simple and recognizable as ok. Which, of course, you don’t sound it out phonetically. You say the two letters when it’s written in that way. So it is funny, those little memories we have of becoming a reader from the earliest days.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like everybody has to have one of those words. Like, for you, it was ock, ok. For me the one that jumped into my mind as you were saying that was the name Stephen for so long, I would pronounce it Step-hen. I just. I was like, that’s such an interesting name, Step-hen.
Dorian Solot
Yes. You were just doing such a good job sounding out all the letters in that name.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, exactly. All right, well, let’s get your backstory now on the how and the why you became a sex educator.
Dorian Solot
Yeah. Well, I grew up in a family that was pretty open and comfortable talking about sexuality, so I really owe my parents a big thank you because I think you have to sort of just grow up in this sense of these are words that are okay to say, and these are ideas it’s okay to learn about, think about, talk about. When I was in college, there was a group of students who realized that there was no sex education happening in the local public schools, and they got permission to train college students to go into the local public schools to teach sex education to kids there. And I thought, you know, there were announcements – we’re looking for students willing to be trained, and I thought that sounds so interesting.
So I got my start signing up for this really wonderful, in-depth training about teaching sexuality education to children, and it really took off from there.
A lot of my work as an adult has been teaching college students all over the country about sexuality education. But as I became a parent, I found that more and more other parents were coming to me, knowing I had a background in sexuality, and asking me questions. So I started sort of doing some consulting and coaching one-on-one with parents about how to navigate the questions my kid is asking. How do I navigate all the stuff that maybe I remember from my own childhood that I don’t want to put on my kids? How do I do it differently? And that’s really how I started doing work with parents and kids and also how these books eventually came to be.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, that’s fantastic. All right, well, so we’ve established your background and your credentials as to why you were the right person to have written these books. You co-authored these books, so do you want to talk a little bit about your co-author real quick and how you worked together? I think you present together as well if I’m right?
Dorian Solot
Yeah, so my co-author is my partner. We parent and partner and teach together and write together, absolutely. And I need to tell you the story of these specific books because one day my sister called me. She had a four-year-old at the time, and she said, “My son, your nephew, has all these questions about his penis,” and I’m the person people ask the sex questions to, the parenting and sexuality questions. Tracy said, “Can you just tell me what book to buy him that will answer all his questions about his penis as a four-year-old?”
And I thought for a moment, and I said, “You know, there really isn’t a book for little kids about penises. I mean, there are books about bodies and about how babies are made, and there are books that will have, like, a little drawing and a little arrow that says, like, this is the penis, but it won’t really say anything more than that.” And she said, “There’s no book. How could that be? Like, this is the modern era.” And I said, “Well, I mean, if there were a book, what would be in it?” And so she started listing off topics. So, when I got off the phone with my sister, I sat down and wrote the first draft of this book.
And of course, as soon as I realized, oh, there is enough for a children’s book about this, and kids do have lots of questions about these parts of their bodies. Of course, I knew there could be an equivalent book about vulvas and vaginas. And we had a little bit of debate. Do we call it the book about vulvas, or do we call it the book about vaginas? And we decided to just go with both words. Because people use both words.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’s so fascinating as well. And I feel like in the back of the Vulvas and Vaginas book; you say something about this where some people just call it vagina. Inside, outside, doesn’t matter, just vagina. But technically, vulva is outside. I definitely was from a family where I don’t think I even heard the word vulva until so much later on, so I love that the title is Vulvas and Vaginas. So well done on that one.
Dorian Solot
Well, thank you. I wasn’t going to get involved in the; we weren’t going to get involved in the sort of vulva versus vagina wars. Like I also grew up in a family where I think my parents felt like we were doing the right thing. We’re using the right words. We’re saying vagina. We’re not saying, like, wee-wee or flower or some silly made-up word like that. But then I think another generation came along and said, well, the vagina is really just this hole in the opening in the inside. And so people have very strong feelings. But I think you can know what the terminology is, and you can also say it’s okay whatever word this family is using.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. All right. Well, I know that both All About Penises and All About Vulvas and Vaginas, both aim to provide children with information about their bodies, and I think what’s important to say here, in a trauma-informed approach and a matter-of-fact manner. So why don’t you tell us more about how you chose to approach this kind of more matter-of-fact and just direct, safe way of explaining things.
Dorian Solot
Yeah. When talking about sexuality topics with little kids, it’s really important, of course, to be developmentally appropriate. The way you talk about something like this with a four-year-old or a six-year-old is going to be so different than with a child who’s going through puberty or about to start puberty versus your teenager. I have very different conversations these days with my high school student.
And so we really wanted to focus on the parts of the body that kids can see if they’re in the bathtub. So we would have these conversations like, oh, gosh, the ovaries aren’t in the book. Should the ovaries be in the book? And we talked about it and said, no, because kids can’t see their ovaries. And if they have questions about babies and all that, of course, it’s fine to teach little kids about ovaries. But let’s just start with what they see when they look down at their own bodies and make sure they understand that that’s another part of their body. That it’s okay to talk about it. It’s not shameful, it’s not mysterious, it’s not scary. It’s just another part of the body. The same way we teach about elbows and feet and eyelashes and all. All those other parts.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it’s science. So, why don’t you discuss some of the key topics that are covered? I mean, you’ve kind of touched on this a little bit and a little bit more about, well, actually, you know what? I’m going to skip this question, Dorian because I feel like you kind of just answered it. All right, let’s talk about the illustrations. So, they definitely play a crucial role in all children’s picture books. And I am a massive fan of the artwork in this book by Tyler, and hopefully I say Tyler’s last name correctly, I believe it’s Feeder or Feder.
Dorian Solot
I believe that she says Feder. Yeah, Feder.
Bianca Schulze
Okay, perfect. I love Tyler Feder’s artwork in this book. Did you get to have any kind of say in choosing her as the artist? Also, what went into making sure that the images were accurate but also appropriate for the intended ages of this book?
Dorian Solot
Yeah, and I’m actually happy to go back to the question about topics because that was one of the things I wondered what would even be in a book like that when my sister first asked me the question. But let me answer your question about artwork. So we knew Tyler Feder’s work. She has a wonderful book, which you may know called Bodies Are Cool, and the bodies in this book, it’s a picture book for young children. So many kinds of bodies, and it’s just a celebration of the diversity of different kinds of bodies instead of this sort of norm that says there’s one way that bodies should be. One skin color, you know, one shape, skinny, and, you know, perfect in every way. Like, perfect is so many different things.
So we knew Tyler’s work from Bodies Are Cool, and in our book proposal, we actually, I didn’t, I never met her, I’d never talked to her, but we included her name in the proposal and said we think Tyler Feder would be an amazing match for illustrating these books because she just does such a great job of making bodies look friendly. They look like they’re for kids. It doesn’t look like it’s a dry anatomical illustration, but she does such a good job of approaching diverse bodies and illustrating diverse bodies.
And when we first started working with Macmillan as a publisher, they said, you know, we noticed that you requested Tyler Feder, but we are also thinking we’d like to look at some other illustrators. And they started showing us artwork from other illustrators, and we were so appreciative that they involved us in the conversation. And so we looked at some of this other artwork, very talented illustrators, and said, you know, these people do such wonderful teddy bears and unicorns. Adorable. But we said, how do we know if these illustrators can draw bodies and especially can draw genitalia like that? Have these people ever done this, anything like this?
And so first, the publishers said that, well, we’re going to have them do samples for us. And we said that’s fine. And then the publisher thought more about it and said that you know what? We agree with you. We love Tyler’s artwork. Let’s just have her illustrate the books. And I think she did such a great job of really bringing these concepts to life, and the books do include some line drawings of those parts down there, but also just a lot of scenes of a parent changing a diaper or a dad and little kid sitting holding a new baby on the couch. So there are just sweet moments of life because, of course, our bodies are part of our everyday lives. They don’t just sort of, like, exist out there, being naked all the time.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think I don’t quite know which words I want to use to describe the artwork, but the word that’s coming to my mind is just friendly. It’s so friendly and approachable. Just the way you look at the artwork, I mean, it just, it really works. So I’m so glad that the publisher went with your first instinct because I just think it really was a great match.
Dorian Solot
Thank you. I’m so glad, too.
Bianca Schulze
Well, let’s go back to those key topics. Okay, so why don’t you tell us more about the key topics that are covered in each of the books? And they both follow a really side by side, similar format. So just tell us more about the topics and how you decided exactly what to put in.
Dorian Solot
Great. You know, it’s funny that the books are quite parallel to each other with the idea that you could read both books to your child, or you could just read one or the other. And originally, in earlier drafts, they weren’t quite as parallel as they are now. And what we found is that when we asked our friends to read drafts to their young children, kids wanted them. They would say, why does this one have this and this one doesn’t? Why does this one have an extra word here? And they noticed the differences, and they were reading all these things into it saying, oh, well, this means you like boys better or you like girls. And we said, okay, these really need to be much more parallel to each other. So they are.
Each book talks about the different parts because a penis is not just one part, and a vulva is not just one part. Helping kids see the different elements, the different things, and the different purposes that they do. There are different reasons why we have different parts of the body there. Each book teaches the concept of privacy and the idea that if you’re going to touch these body parts, it’s something you do in private. There’s some information about preventing sexual abuse, helping kids understand that their bodies are their own, and they get to decide if someone else wants to touch their body and, if that ever did happen, that they should talk to a trusted adult.
And there’s also information in each book about, basically, a parent guide with more in-depth information about answering kids’ questions about vaginal birth or caring for a foreskin or those types of things that parents might wonder about related to these body parts and the challenges of parenting. Many of us didn’t necessarily grow up with good role models about how to raise sexually healthy kids, so trying to give parents a few extra tools there in the background.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely, and especially if you were someone who grew up in a family that didn’t necessarily talk about it or you didn’t have any sex education yourself, and maybe you want to be open, but you don’t have the vocabulary or the know-how. Something I’ve noticed, so I have my three kids, and they’re a pretty wide span in age. And so with my first, I was the young mom, and then now, with my last kid, I’m one of the older moms. And so I actually get text messages from some of my younger mom friends now saying how did you approach this topic or how did you approach that? Now, I’m certainly no sex educator, but I always have taken that approach where I’m like, if they ask you a question, they’re ready to hear it. Answer it in the most simple, effective, straightforward, matter-of-fact, scientific way you can, and if they want to know more, they’ll ask you more.
Dorian Solot
So that’s perfect. Good. Good.
Bianca Schulze
Okay, good.
Dorian Solot
I think you’re doing a great job. Absolutely.
Bianca Schulze
So then that’s where I see these books as being that perfect solution for that. Okay, well, that’s maybe helpful, answer it in the most simple way, but what if you just don’t have that vocabulary? And I think these books have that vocabulary, so that’s what I like about them.
Dorian Solot
Oh, thank you. That’s so great to hear. Yeah. I think you’re doing a great job answering your kids’ questions and advising those younger parents. And I do think that some kids will ask lots of questions. And so as a parent, you just answer the questions as they go, and then some kids don’t ask, and sometimes it’s up to the parent to say, I have something I want to show you or something I want to tell you about.
And certainly, these books are great for the kids who ask the questions, but they can also be such helpful parenting tools for starting a conversation, especially if you’re like, oh, these words feel really awkward to me. I haven’t been, all those years of changing diapers, we did not talk about the parts that we were cleaning or those times in the bathtub. But now I really do think I want to make sure my kid knows the words and knows some of that basic information about consent and bodily autonomy.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, ahead of our chat, we exchanged some emails, and you mentioned the significance for you of getting to include the clitoris in All About Vulvas and Vaginas. So why don’t you elaborate on this major feat and explain why teaching children they have a clitoris and not just a vulva is, like, so important?
Dorian Solot
Yes, that word is so important that it’s included and it’s just mentioned in the book very briefly. It’s not a whole in-depth conversation or exploration at all, but the idea that it’s there is so important to me because, I mentioned, I do a lot of work with college students and especially around the concept of sexual pleasure, because I think sexual pleasure ties in, again, for young adults, it ties into consent to knowing what you want to, being able to say yes to the sex that you want and no to the sex that you don’t want when you’re at that stage of life.
So, from what I noticed working with those college students is so many of the students certainly didn’t know they had a clitoris and didn’t have any kind of relationship with it. And now they’re having adult sexuality, partnered sex, and they’re wondering why they’re not having great experiences. And I thought, wouldn’t it be amazing if every kid grew up, every kid who had a clitoris, knew that they had a clitoris and just knew that it had a name and knew that it had a purpose? So I’ve heard some people say, oh, they don’t need to know about that until puberty, until they’re in college, until they’re much, much older. And just because, to me, just because you know that it’s there doesn’t mean anything about what relationship you have with it. But I think it can be so empowering for kids to know they have that body part. And in many ways, that body part manned up, being more important for the first 20, 25, 35 years of life than all the things we often do teach kids about, like ovaries and fallopian tubes and uterus, which probably won’t be relevant until much, much later in their lives.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, exactly. And I mean, just, I love, again, how simply it was touched upon that this is just part of your body. It’s got this scientific label and the arrow pointing and, I mean, it was just, it is, it’s just a part of the body. And it’s, you know, to ignore that it’s there is to me, that’s not correct, that’s not factual because it is a part of the body. So I’m glad that you got to put that in. Was there any debate about it during the publishing?
Dorian Solot
There was debate about how much to say about it, for sure. And it’s one of those things where it’s like, just because of how anatomy works and how our bodies are different, little kids who have penises tend to notice them. They stick out. They’re right there. They’re easy to grab. Even when they’re toddlers, or you’re changing diapers, their hands tend to go there, but the clitoris is a little less obvious and a little less likely to be noticed by the child themselves. So I think just labeling it, having that arrow, having them know it’s there can be kind of an important piece of information.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, for sure. All right, well, let’s see. In addition to being these resources for children, these books, as we said, provide guidance for parents and caregivers. So, can you share some tips for parents on how to approach conversations about bodies with their children? And I love in the back of the book, it’s like how to be an askable parent. So how do you, as a parent or a caregiver, train yourself or present yourself as an askable parent?
Dorian Solot
Yeah. The concept of being an askable parent is so important because it just indicates to your kids that your door is open. That it’s okay for them to bring up these kinds of topics when and if they have questions or wonderings or things they’re trying to figure out or something they heard in school from somebody else and they want a reality check with you. And part of being an askable parent is just showing them through your words, through your actions, that you’re not going to freak out if they bring up those kinds of topics. That you talk about those words in a matter-of-fact, comfortable way. And then if they ask you a question, you’ll either give them an honest answer, or sometimes you might need to say to them, let me think about that, and I’ll get back to you with an answer and then actually go back to them. I
t’s okay as a parent not to always be ready for the things that your kids spring on you, but to really do the thing of researching it, looking up; how do I answer this? What information do I want to provide for my child that’s age-appropriate for them and then return to them with that answer? I’d like to think of it as, instead of thinking about it as one 100-minute conversation that you have when your child is older, that there are 100 one-minute conversations you have as your child is growing up. And that’s how you impart both the facts and your own observations and values to your child.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, I absolutely love that little mini-conversations add up to the bigger picture, and I feel like that’s the key part of being that askable parent, isn’t it?
Dorian Solot
Absolutely, yes. It sounds like you’re well on your way.
Bianca Schulze
Some of the dinner conversations at my house can be quite entertaining.
Dorian Solot
I believe it.
Bianca Schulze
So I think we talked before about how these books kind of work parallel to each other. And so I love this question that, again, is from the back of the book, but I want to hear your answer live here. Is the penis book just for people with penises, and is the vulva and vagina book just for people with vulvas and vaginas?
Dorian Solot
Absolutely not. So either book can be read with any child who has any genitals themselves. Certainly, you know the original concept when my sister called and said, my son has questions about his penis, was she didn’t want to teach him about everything all at once. And there were conversations with the publisher, a lot of conversations, should this all be in one book?
But we really felt like when a parent goes looking for information, they’re probably looking to answer something specific. It might be a child asking about their own body, and that’s great. It also might be a child who takes a bath with a child of a different gender and says, why do we look different? Everything is the same except this one thing. What’s going on? That’s a very common question kids ask. Sometimes, you have situations where a kid is being raised by a single parent, or a kid has a question about mommy’s or daddy’s body because they saw them getting changed.
So the idea is that kids are curious about their own bodies, but they’re also curious about the bodies that look different than their own, and I can imagine parents in both situations looking for information to help their kids have these conversations.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely. And you touched up ahead about consent, and that’s spoken about a little bit in the back of the book, so I also feel as though understanding another person’s body is a part of respecting another person’s body as well. So that’s another reason that I think having both books is important. At least that’s how I feel.
Dorian Solot
Yes, I agree with you. And I do think, I mean, it’s, in my ideal world, every child would, in my ideal world, they could all be together, and everybody would receive all this information, but that’s my educator perspective. And I know that I can also understand parents who would say, well, at this point, we’re going to read this book, but maybe next year or a couple of years later, we’re going to have the second book, and kind of expand the child’s view to understand other bodies as well.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, I love that. Alright, well, so in terms of parents and caregivers, what feedback have you received from anyone who’s read the books so far?
Dorian Solot
Yes. Well, the books are still very new, so most of the feedback is from people who read advanced copies or gave us feedback on drafts, but it’s been so positive. We heard so many parents say this was so useful; it answered my kids’ questions or my kid has been asking me to read the vulva book over and over and over, like every night before bed, which was not something we necessarily expected. So it’s been such a treat and an honor to hear the kids and parents are responding so positively.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, that’s so great. Alright, well, as both a sex educator and now a writer, what challenges do you face in creating content for children, whether it’s for your books or in a presentation, and how do you navigate them? Because everybody knows there’s so much book banning going on and so much censorship in so many different areas, so I just have to imagine that you run up against walls quite often.
Dorian Solot
Yeah, I mean, it makes sense that adults sort of draw the lines in different places in terms of what’s okay, what’s not okay. What age do you want your kids to know where babies come from? And to me, the easiest way, if your child happens to ask you, as you said, if your child is old enough to think of the question, ask the question, they’re old enough to receive at least a basic simple explanation. But some kids never ask and so at what point do you say it’s time for this child to know because they’re going to start hearing it from other kids? Or topics like masturbation, all kinds of topics that adults have different ideas in their minds about when kids should know that should learn a word, should learn a concept.
I think I draw on both the research of other sexuality educators and my own experience as a parent that, in general, simple, straightforward information said in a way that kids can understand. It makes sense, and as kids get older and they move through those life stages, you sort of layer on more information.
So these books each have a page where they show the same child when they’re younger and then a little bit older to explain the idea that pubic hair is going to grow when you get older. Little kids usually don’t have hair in those parts of their body. These are my favorite spreads, illustration spreads in the book because these little details follow through where you see, like, the kitten becomes a cat, and the plant grows more leaves, and the little girl who has a softball mitt and a softball has a softball trophy when she’s a little bit older.
So I love just the really simple, friendly way that you get to see the same child growing up and the same thing for the little boy in the other book. But, yeah, I think just thinking through the different ages and stages and doing the best you can with what’s right for you. I think some parents are going to read their kids these books at age two or three, and others are going to say, this doesn’t feel quite right for me until my child is seven or eight, and that’s okay. That’s something parents get to decide.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, what stands out to you so far as the most memorable experience of creating these books?
Dorian Solot
Oh, my gosh. The most memorable experience creating them. Let me think about that for a moment. Hmm.
Even though these books, like any picture book, they’re very simple, they’re very matter-of-fact, there aren’t a lot of words on each page. But each and every page got to have such an intense level of debate and conversation among the adults involved, the editor, the illustrator, Marshall, my co-author, and I, about exactly what messages do we want to send about consent, about sexual abuse prevention? Exactly what messages do we want to send about masturbation? And the conclusion was almost nothing except the idea that it’s something that if you’re going to touch, you’re going to do it in private.
With each different topic there was sort of very specific conversation. What can we show and not show in the illustrations? And there was a lot of conversation, particularly with legal departments, about what’s okay and what’s not okay. Understandably, we want to make sure that we’re protecting children and families from inappropriate representation of genitals. So thinking through, like, will there be any pictures of adults? And the conclusion was absolutely not. There will be no pictures of adult genitals. It’s just little kids’ bodies, and they’re drawn in very, very simple, friendly ways. Yeah.
Bianca Schulze
Yeah, I think that’s great. All right, well, are there any other? Well, no, actually, I want to talk about the fact that there will be a third book in The Learning About Bodies series, focusing on how babies are made. So what can readers expect from this upcoming book, and when will it be out?
Dorian Solot
Yes, the third book is called Ingredients to Make a Baby. It is our “How babies are made” book. It will be super inclusive because there are so many different ways that babies are made nowadays, ao it will talk about the most common ways, but also there are lots of other ways that this happens. The third book, the How Babies Are Made book, is pretty silly. I would say it’s a little sillier and more humorous than the vulva and vagina and the penis books. I’m pretty silly. We’re both pretty silly as parents, so we got to just include more of our own sense of humor in that next book. I think it will be out in 2025. We do not have an exact date yet, so really looking forward to that. It is in draft form at the moment.
Bianca Schulze
Awesome. Well, I hope that when that one comes out, you’ll come back on the show so we can talk more about that one. Give me one second, Dorian. I just need to hit a power button real quick.
Dorian Solot
Sure.
Bianca Schulze
I thought I had my outlet turned on and I’m getting low battery.
Dorian Solot
Oh, no.
Bianca Schulze
I guess I didn’t hit the power button. All right, we’re back in action. All right, so beyond that, we’ve got the penis book, we’ve got the vulva book, we’re going to get a how babies are made book, so are there any other topics or themes that you’re hoping to explore in children’s books? Or have you even considered… You can tell me if I’m wrong, but I feel like these books are aimed at our seven-year-olds and younger. Will there be books for those eight and up kids? What are you thinking?
Dorian Solot
Gosh, we’ve got lots of ideas for future books and not sure what direction we’ll end up going in. My sense is that in the world of books for slightly older kids, there are some great options out there already, so I’m not as inclined to add more for older kids, although, who knows? It is unclear where the Learning About Bodies series will go next.
Bianca Schulze
All right, well, I’m gonna be waiting, at least for that how babies are made book, and I’m excited about that one because it’s gonna be a great addition. Well, ultimately, at the end of the day, when readers have read All About Penises, and they’ve read All About Vulvas and Vaginas, what do you hope that both the kids and the parents take away from this reading experience?
Dorian Solot
I really want kids to grow up knowing that their bodies are their own, that their bodies are perfect just as they are, and that their bodies are theirs to make decisions about taking care of them, about who they choose to share them with as they grow into being adults, and just that sense of empowerment over their own bodies. And I think that as parents, we’re in such an amazing position to plant those seeds to give our kids that healthy attitude and that sense of comfort in their own skin.
Bianca Schulze
Fantastic answer. So, is there anything else that you would like to add or share with the listeners that we didn’t talk about or do you think we covered it?
Dorian Solot
Oh, this has been a great conversation. I think that one thing that maybe makes these books different from many of the children’s books you talk about on your podcast is that although they’re certainly books for children, they’re really parenting tools. They’re a way to make the parent’s job easier, where a parent can give them to kids who read, or even better yet, read them with your kids— to your kids, and help make that job easier of being an askable parent, raising sexually healthy kids, and helping kids be comfortable with all the parts of their body, not just the ones that we sing about and talk about most often.
Bianca Schulze
That’s fantastic. Alright, well, I feel like there’s been so many little highlights of what you said today, so I want to wrap up by saying, as a mom of three kids, I cannot thank you more than enough for providing the resources you do and for writing these particular books.
And as you said, while some books are primarily for children and others are mainly for parents, these books, to me, are like a bridge, providing the tools that make it easier for us as parents to have these conversations, to bring up interesting subjects that maybe we’re not always comfortable talking about and to give us the words to use.
So, I want to end with a quote from both books. And you already said this: remember that 100 one-minute conversations about sexuality topics will make more of an impact than one 100-minute conversation. So please, everyone, go and buy All About Penises and All About Vulvas and Vaginas from the Learning About Bodies Books series and give them to every family you know, as long as they want to accept them. We’ll hand them over gently. And honestly, I just think everybody should have these books in their home libraries. So, Dorian, thank you so much for all that you do, and thank you for coming on the show.
Dorian Solot
Thank you so much for having me.
Show Notes
Order Copies:
All About Vulvas and Vaginas on Amazon and Bookshop.org.
All About Penises on Amazon and Bookshop.org.
Resources:
Find Dorian Solot on www.learningaboutbodies.com and @learningaboutbodies on Instagram
Thank you for listening to the Growing Readers Podcast episode Talking to Kids About Their Bodies: A Conversation with Sex Educator and Author Dorian Solot. For the latest episodes from The Growing Readers Podcast, Subscribe or Follow Now.
