Concepts

Author's Note

The original publication of The Bare Naked Book in 1986 caused quite a stir. It was considered pretty daring at the time to show naked bodies and talk about them frankly in a children’s book! But we knew it was important for children to see different bodies being celebrated and to learn about their own. The book was fun, matter-of-fact, and often appeared on lists of recommended titles related to themes of body image and personal safety.

Over the years conversations around diversity and identity evolved significantly. We began to realize that too many children would not find themselves and important people in their lives within the book’s pages. Annick Press and I agreed it was time to update the book.

Showing a fuller range of human beings and their bodies required new illustrations, and happy was the day artist Melissa Cho came on board. We also made significant changes to the text. For example, rather than specifying “penis” and “vagina,” as we did originally, and assigning them rigidly to males and females, this time we have used simply “genitals,” leaving adult readers free to talk with children about variations in gender identity and genitalia, and the words they might prefer to use to refer to them. Having a shared understanding of the terms a child uses for their genitals helps in recognizing and intervening in cases of sexual abuse while also letting each child choose how they self-identify.

Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, educator, or counselor, we hope that you and the children in your lives will delight in finding yourselves in this new and improved bare naked celebration of bodies!