Donor Conceived

Geared to readers from preschool to age eight, What Makes a Baby is a book for every kind of family and every kind of kid. It is a twenty-first century children’s picture book about conception, gestation, and birth, which reflects the reality of our modern time by being inclusive of all kinds of kids, adults, and families, regardless of how many people were involved, their orientation, gender and other identity, or family composition. Just as important, the story doesn’t gender people or body parts, so most parents and families will find that it leaves room for them to educate their child without having to erase their own experience. Written by sexuality educator Cory Silverberg, and illustrated by award-winning Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, What Makes a Baby is as fun to look at as it is useful to read.

Mommy’s having a baby for another family! Why? How does that work? And, wait... what about my family? Oliver, a young kangaroo whose mother becomes a surrogate for the Bouncing-Hopalots and delivers their baby to them, narrates this heartwarming tale and shows what the gestational surrogacy process is all about from start to finish. The Kangaroo Pouch, written by a compassionate gestational surrogate, is 28-pages, fully illustrated, and vetted by various doctors and childhood professionals to ensure the content is appropriate for young children.

In her column Ask Amy, the advice columnist Amy Dickinson advises parents to start talking with donor conceived kids about their birth story as young as possible. In her May, 2022 column she highly recommends The Pea That Was Me: An Egg Donation Story. Wondering how to tell your child about their egg donor? This acclaimed children's picture book (3-5 years old) makes it incredibly easy to start talking with your child about the special way they came into the world. Your child will want to hear about "the very kind egg donor" over and over again! Written by a well-known psychotherapist who uses age-appropriate language and simple but clear concepts about the three things it takes to make a baby (eggs, sperm and a tummy to grow in), kids learn that a "very kind lady" helped to bring them into their loving family. Why wait to start talking to your child?

Happy Together, an egg donation story, is a heartwarming book to help introduce the concept of egg donation to a young child. A story told through clear language and cheerful illustrations, readers will join Mommy and Daddy bear on the journey to fulfill their greatest wish of becoming parents. With help from a doctor, an egg from a special lady called a donor and Daddy’s seed, a baby grew in Mommy’s tummy and was welcomed with great joy. This is 1 in a collection of 8 Happy Together books to help introduce young children to IVF, donor conception and surrogacy.

As the little lion cub notices all different types of families, he starts to question his own family. His family consists of his mother and him. The little cub learns that while there is no “daddy” in his family, there is a donor lion who made his life possible. Through his mother’s love and nurturing, the lion cub understands how special he and his family are. This book, winner of the Mom's Choice Silver Award for children's picture books, presents the basic facts of anonymous donor conception in a simple but loving manner. By reading this story with a child who was conceived through the help of an anonymous donor, the child will start learning about and understanding his or her family and his or her origins, just as the lion cub does in the story. The delightful illustrations of various animals and their families make the subject accessible to small children. It is a book you can share with your child over the years, and with each reading your child will gain more insight and appreciation for his or her family - for his or her own special story.

The Very Kind Koala is a charming picture book for young children which provides an introduction to surrogacy through the simple story of a koala bear and her husband who needed the help of a very kind koala to carry their baby in her pouch.Parents can begin reading this story to children as young as 3 years of age to begin the dialog about their own helpful surrogate.

Children conceived using third-party assisted reproduction often have questions and want to know where they came from. As parents we sometimes forget that telling our kids the truth right from the start is always best! This wonderful children's book written by Dr. Kim Bergman, author of Your Future Family: The Essential Guide to Assisted Reproduction, and beautifully illustrated by Irit Pollack, answers those questions in simple, easy to understand language. Use this book to help your children understand all the parts that came together to make them who they are, beginning with a wish!

A mother elephant explains her use of donor eggs to her child. With charming illustrations and simple words, "Mommy, was your tummy big?"can help parents who used in vitro fertilization and donor eggs begin to explain the process to their small children. The book has been praised by many mental health professionals who work with fertility clinics, and an NYU Child Study Center article offers it as an example of how to tell a young child about his/her donor egg origins. It is on all major lists of books recommended for helping parents explain the use of donor eggs, including that of ASRM(American Society for Reproductive Medicine).

Now-a-days many children are born through egg donation. This touching story of how a happy couple of rabbits have their own baby by means of egg donation. Using rabbits in this story enables children to easily understand their conception in a simple and loving way. It is through storytelling that parents can explain and children understand naturally these infertility treatments.

Cameron is a confident, fun-loving kid who can't wait to tell you all about his magician mom, Mimi, and the things that make his family unique. For grown-ups: This heart-warming tale is told by a donor-conceived child named Cameron who shares his family's story with pride and honesty, even when offering a matter-of-fact explanation of conception. Being donor-conceived is just one way Cameron is one-of-a-kind. This is a wonderful resource for parents, friends and classmates of donor-conceived people. It seeks to promote a greater understanding of family diversity and encourage thoughtful discussion.

When Nan's kindergarten class is planning Donuts for Dads, Nan gets teased because she doesn't have a dad. This delightful picture book by first-time author Mary E. Ryan speaks to the many children whose families aren't a traditional mom-and-dad model. It is a joyful and upbeat story with a charming and lovable new character.

Phoebe's mom tells her the wonderful and unique story of how she came into being through egg donation. Along the way, Phoebe hears about the challenges her mom and dad faced in trying to have a baby, as well as the ultimate good news of her birth into a warm and loving family. This vividly illustrated children's book is a great way for kids to learn about their distinctive beginnings. --Full Color with Illustrations. --Ages 5-10. Excerpt FROM THE OPENING PAGES OF PHOEBE'S FAMILY... Mama loved to tell Phoebe stories about her family. On hot, sticky, summer nights they looked up at the stars. They sat barefoot, sipping their tall glasses of pink lemonade with colorful little umbrellas. Phoebe twirled her umbrella between her fingers and toes and listened to her mama speak. Mama's eyes grew large and her mouth stretched wide into a circle like a great big O. "Phoebe, see those stars? Each one has its own story of how it came to be, and so do you!" And she went on to tell Phoebe's story the story of how Phoebe was born into her family.

I Dreamed of You, the story of an egg donor, tells the story of how the parent and child came to be together. It allows the mother a way to open up this critical conversation and to embrace all of the love, caring, nurturing, and desire she gave to her child from contemplation to birth and beyond. It takes so much love to tell how the child came to be, and this is a love story. Reviewers have described the book as "A beautiful tribute to the love between parent and child and the journey many parents embark on to meet their babies." - Dr. Meivys Garcia, Reproductive Endocrinologist and Fertility Specialist. Another notes that, "Lori Metz brings her compassionate love and grounded wisdom to help families come to greater acceptance, understanding and celebration of their journey with egg donation. This book is a gift that parents and their children will appreciate and treasure!" - Dr. Miriam Pineles, DACM, L.AC.

“The birds and the bees for the donor-conceived generation.” -Melanie McGee Bianchi/Editor/Bold Life Magazine Liam’s mommy is an architect, and while walking together to his first day of school, he learns that Mommy helped design one of the houses in the neighborhood. Upon arriving at school, Liam meets a boy with a new baby sister and learns that babies come from mommies and daddies. Liam begins to wonder about how he was made without a daddy and rushes home after school to find out the answer. Together, Liam and Mommy explore what it means to be donor-conceived and how generosity and genetics combined to create a home built not just by an architect, but by love. This book is for single moms by choice who have used their own egg + a sperm donor via IUI.

Daniel and Daisy see all of their dinosaur friends with their eggs and long for one of their own. Then something too good to be true happens! A short story to help families talk about the concept of egg donation in a friendly and fun manner. Written and illustrated by Sally Baldwin, a primary school teacher of 20+ years and with an egg donor daughter of her own, this story offers the opportunity for discussions to be had at a level the adult wants to. Deliberately, there is no scientific language, just the use of the terms donor and donate. The characters all have names beginning with D, so no names such as Mum, Mom, etc, as Sally wanted to allow the book to be used by as many cultures / countries as possible. The story is cleverly written in rhyme, and has delightful pictures to engage the reader.