This is definitely a one-time read. It's not one of those books that would need to be in the nightly rotation. It's very direct and kind of wordy for a child's book. But I also think it really takes away from the point of natural humanity. We're going too far, in my opinion. And I hope it got edited again before it was released.

This book was great and definitely would help a child understand their family or others who used IVF and similar contraception methods. I loved that it wasn’t too long, loved the nursery drawings, and the discussion questions!

Maisie's Blueprints by Sharon Leya is a wonderful and educational picturebook that tackles an uncommon topic withing children's literature - donors for same-sex couples. I think it was covered wonderfully, filled with beautiful art, It shows in a very simple and straight-forward way different ways of creating family. I would highly recommend if you're looking for a more inclusive picturebook, covering a not-so-common topic.

A truly unique book. There should be way more books like this out there in the world. I do not think I have ever, ever seen a book like this one.
This is a story of a little girl who lives with two moms, and the moms chose IVF to have their child. The girl is asked at school how come she was born to two moms, and her journey of finding out what IVF is begins. It is so, so wonderfully and beautifully told. I am sure this book will be absolutely loved by families who have had their IVF journeys to get their children. Loved, absolutely loved it!

5 Stars

I don't believe I have ever seen a children's book covering this topic of sperm/egg donation. However it's an important book for those that have gone thru it and want a way to explain it to their children. Although not my area of expertise, it seems like this book does a great job explaining to kids what this means in a creative way.

I really liked the illustrations of this book and the range on inclusivity shown in this story. It really was fantastic.

I think this book will be great for families that want to share information with their children about how there are kinds of ways to have a baby. Well done!

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own. I will be sharing my review to my Instagram page the.littlest.bookworm and retail sites.

This book touches on a subject that I never really gave a lot of thought to, but having someone who I know who has chosen an alternate path to having a child, it is certainly a subject that some children do want and need to know more about. I found that this book treated the topic well, although maybe not the exact situation of my friend, and that it was handled in a way that linked to something concrete for children who are more visual thinkers or need that extra connection to what is a kind of broad concept.

I did find the part which talked about reproduction a little confusing, but I also get that maybe talking about sex in this book would have been too much to try and fit in. And conception this way is not about sex so I also get that. Just found the way that the male and female parts were presented didn't quite work, especially as it kind of skipped the insemination part that is key to all conception whether it's done naturally or through artificial means. I am also not convinced that a child would automatically ask the question that the little boy does on their first day, but I guess there needed to be a way to kick start the discussion. Maybe having the context not being in a school setting would have worked better simply because school did not really play a part even once Maisie got there (it was captured in a single page and image).

The best part of this book was actually the end where there were some questions put forward with ways to answer them and engage with your child about them, recognizing that some children will be older and able to grasp more complex information.

The artwork is nice and works well. And treating conception a little like building a house and a home was nicely done.

All in all, a good book to raise awareness and to help a child understand how they "fit" in the reproduction space.

This book used a great analogy of blueprints for how families are built. When the daughter of a same sex couple hears at school that her two moms couldn’t make a baby, she questions how they are made. The moms explained how a donor helped build their family. It also gives tips to parents at the end about how to answer kids’ questions.

When a boy at school asks Maisie how she was born when she 'only' has a Mommy and a Mama, Maisie finds out the answer with the help of her loving parents. I loved the warmth and empathy of this little book, which would be suitable for young children and helpful for adults looking for ways into discussing this important topic. I really appreciated the notes at the end of the story for sensitivity purposes. I would only suggest that on the page where it indicates not all women have eggs, the same could be said of the man on the other page to indicate that not all men have sperm.

read this if you're looking for: a book to explore the topic of donor conception and non-traditional families with young children.
rep: a young family with two mums.

disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

Maisie has two moms and on her first day of school a boy asks her how she was made without a dad. Her moms give her a wonderful explanation that kids can understand for sperm and egg donors.

While I think the writing was a bit too on the nose, even for a picture book, it accomplishes the goal of explaining donors to children.

This book fills a special gap for library collections looking to show different family structures. This is a good fit for representation of families that have two moms and for families who have used donors. The art is fun but at times feels a bit unfinished.

This is a book to help kids understand donor conception which has two moms as the parents. It’s a story that wonderfully depicts the variety of ways one can grow a family using the metaphor of housing and architects and blueprints. It is a springboard book for parents to talk to their kids about what it takes to grow a family using the scientific but age appropriate words and information that they might need to know. It also shows through the pictures that trans people exist, which is a really touching moment. This book makes sure that kids know that their family and not their donor are the ones responsible for their true identity. This book is ultimately something that parents should use to make sure their kid never has to feel alone. Parents should always tell their kids that they were donor conceived and how that makes them different, but also a very special part of a family which this book manages to accurately represent.

A very short but beautiful story!

I saw this book on my explore page and I needed to know more about this book.

It's about Maisie and her two moms. On Maisies first day at school she gets asked who her father is, but she doesn't know because she has two moms. After school she asks her mothers where she came from and they explain it to her in a very beautiful way.

The story is easy to understand and explains everything very well.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this EARC!

This book was amazing, I love that things like this exist now. Growing up with two moms, there were no resources like this when I was a child. Every lower elementary classroom should own this book.