Book aims to answer tricky question: "Why are mommy's breasts bigger?"
A new children's book will try to help parents explain their cosmetic surgery procedures to kids. The book, written by Flordia plastic surgeon Michael Salzhauer, is featured in this week's Newsweek.
From the article:
"My Beautiful Mommy" is aimed at kids ages four to seven and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: "You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better." Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.
The text doesn't mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom's breasts to be fuller and higher. "I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself," says Salzhauer. "The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can't fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old."
Comments (4)
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Explain reconstruction surgery to a kid, sure. Explain weight-loss and maybe even surgery to fix the folds that can result.
But if you want to explain non-reconstruction nose jobs, boob jobs and tummy tucks, you've got to be honest - "Mommy never learned how to find herself beautiful, so she's spending your tuition on getting carved into a plastic mockery of herself!"
A great lesson for the young ones.
The art sucks, too.
Posted on April 16, 2008 1:53 PM
Yeah. Makes me feel like I need a shower, too.
But I am strangely comforted by the crappy art.
If it was a book with really good art...that'd somehow be even more creepy.
Posted on April 16, 2008 1:57 PM
I just gave myself a chuckle imagining if Frank Miller had written and illustrated the same topic.
Posted on April 16, 2008 2:12 PM
Fake breasts and weird, sexualized surgery? Miller would be funny.
I'd also love to see Howard Chaykin tackle it.
Posted on April 16, 2008 2:17 PM