My Book Is HERE! Roads to Family available now!
Give me an A
Give me a U
Give me a T
Give me an H
Give me an O
Give me an R!
What does that spell? Author!
That is the very first time I have ever said that word out loud and believe it to be true. Why now? I just ripped open a box from Lerner Publishing Group and lifted out a book - that I wrote! Well, with:
lots of editing from the amazing staff at Lerner Publishing (past and present),
ideas from the amazing Jacqueline DiBernardo,
expertise from a cadre of professionals,
input from two dozen beta readers,
the endless love and support from family and friends.
Plus, I could not have asked for a more talented artist than Mel Latthitham. She captured the spirit of the text – in accuracy, in sparking curiosity, and in playfulness.
What an incredible (and long) journey it’s been! The seed was planted (yeah, yeah, I get the pun) when I was explaining to my ten year old son (now in his 20’s) how he came to be. He knew all along, really, that he was conceived via IVF, but we hadn’t gone into too much detail because he wasn’t all that interested. But his 4th grade teacher was starting to talk about puberty, so I thought I’d piggy-back on her lessons. Plus, he was at a great age to understand the interesting science of reproduction.
I had done my research – I knew which books were the best, and I piled them on the coffee table before snuggling up with him on the couch. But, each one explained good old-fashioned hanky panky between mom and dad. Pretty much none of them even mentioned insemination or IVF, and if they did, it was just a few sentences; more of a nod to the whole infertility endeavor.
In addition, none of these existing books could explain how single-parent or people in same sex relationships came to be. So I found myself frantically ad libbing as I read to my child, and by the end, I was flustered. And I teach puberty classes! I couldn’t imagine what that experience would be like for parents and caregivers who are uncomfortable with the whole topic to begin with.
By the time we adopted our daughter (now a teenager), I didn’t even bother with the existing books. I already knew that none of them used terms like ‘birth’ or ‘first mother’. So, what did I do? I wrote my own book about ALL the ways humans reproduce and form family; a book that any family could use – no matter how their child came to be in the world, and no matter their family’s structure.
I interviewed over two dozen adults that used insemination, IVF, donors, surrogates, adoption and foster care to bring children into their families. But I also interviewed donors and surrogates to learn about their experiences. My favorite interviewees, however, were the kids and young adults who were conceived with assisted reproduction – the ones that shared their feelings about how the adults in their lives brought them into the world, and how they understand just what it means to be family.
Woven into the first-hand accounts is all the fascinating science of human reproduction. It always takes an egg, a sperm and a uterus to create a human – but how, exactly, they work together to make a brand new human is truly remarkable. I hope you get a ton out of this book; not just because it describes your own family, but because it helps you understand the families of your relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances, and the endless famous people you see in the media. By understanding one another better, don’t we help make the world a better place?
Where can you buy the book? Books are $25 at our lovely local bookstore, Wallace Books, in honor of the book launch party; $9 ebook and $37 hardcover at Amazon; or wherever books are sold.
My big ask? Please request that your local school/public library order a copy, so we can make the book widely accessible.
And, if you are willing to write a review on Amazon (and/or Goodreads), please do! Your support is much appreciated!