norris brown

I stumbled across this book in the children's section at the library today and was very disturbed by the vocabulary used to describe animal reproductive behavior. Its all been written in a somewhat creepily erotic way - by a human female who is more or less speculating. For example to describe dolphin activity the author wrote: "You'll often see two males swimming side by side, fondling or stimulating each other with their snouts or penises..." This is but one example of many throughout the book which describes animal sexual behavior in a very human adult manner that is not fit for middle-graders (the book's target audience). Animals do not think of everything in a sexual manner as human adults do. The author is clearly projecting her own view and understanding of sex from a human perspective. Its almost as if she's describing the animals and other organism's act of reproduction and behavior as if it is some kind of kink or fetish to them. Perhaps the author Katharina needs to see a psychiatrist to address this apparent kink and infatuation with describing animal reproduction in such an erotic way... certainly would recommend that parents stay well away from this book.