Guess How I Was Born

By Suzanne Gervay & Carolyn Daly

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Presented with the Lifetime Social Justice Literature Award for her body of work by the International Literacy Association and an Order of Australia, Susanne Gervays’s  books are recognised all over the world. Here she is joined by Carolyn Daly whose motto is ‘make your own bit of magic with a story’. The book is inspired by the birth of Suzanne’s own grandchild, Violet Rose.

In Guess How I Was Born we meet Violet and her diverse group of friends enjoying a dress-up party. There’s Charlie who has two dads who’s upset that his giraffe costume only has one horn which Violet thinks is very funny. Other friends include one with two mums, one with step-siblings, and one who is adopted. These children are all miracles of love,  but how was Violet born? She is the biggest miracle of all – an IVF baby.

This announcement doesn’t explain anything about what this actually means. The illustration features test tubes, atoms, light bulbs, lightning and even a question mark but nothing about the process. It would be challenging to explain the complicated procedures involved to a child as young as these but I did hope for more than ‘science and inventiveness made me’.

The very young will no doubt respond to the all encompassing love of children expressed in the book and enjoy some of the shenanigans the children get up to, it may even spark a conversation about different types of families.