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Mechanics' Institute

Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection

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Cover of Recipes of How Babies Are Made.

Cover image from Google Books.

Image source

Recipes of How Babies Are Made

Creator

Carmen Martinez Jover; illustrated by Rosemary Martinez

Date

Published 2007

Format

Book

A child-facing explanation of conception, donor gametes, surrogacy, embryo donation, IVF, and adoption.

ConceptionAssisted reproductive technologyDonor conceptionSurrogacyAdoptionFamily formation
Contact About AccessBack to catalog

Overview

Recipes of How Babies Are Made is a 2007 illustrated informational book by Carmen Martinez Jover, with illustrations by Rosemary Martinez. It explains conception through a recipe analogy: babies require sperm, egg, and a womb or tummy, just as a cake requires ingredients and an oven. Google Books records a 32-page English edition with ISBN 9789709410341, and Open Library preserves a matching catalog trace. The local catalog emphasizes that the book is not an LGBTQ-family story, while also explaining why it belongs in this collection. Its account of IVF, sperm donation, egg donation, embryo donation, surrogacy, and adoption gives child-facing language for family-making questions that appear throughout same-sex-parent children's books.[1][2][3][6]

The Recipe Analogy

The book's central device is simple but important: it compares making a baby with following a recipe. Public records and the local catalog describe sperm, egg, and womb or tummy as the basic ingredients, then extend the explanation to assisted reproductive technologies and adoption. That metaphor gives young readers a way to separate biological components from family belonging. In a collection about LGBTQ-family books, that distinction matters because many stories involve donor conception, surrogacy, adoption, or nonbiological parenthood.[1][2][6]

Context, Not Direct Representation

This item needs careful placement. The local catalog says it has no gay content, and the CFAS resource describes it as set in a heterosexual context. The collection value therefore comes from use and adjacency rather than direct representation. A child with two mothers or two fathers may still need language for sperm, egg, pregnancy, donors, surrogates, and adoption. The book belongs here because it helps explain family-making concepts that other titles dramatize through specific same-sex-parent households.[1][6][2]

Creator Network

The author and illustrator network extends beyond this one informational book. Carmen Martinez Jover's public materials describe fertility-related children's stories, and Rosemary Martinez's site lists related books. CFAS also connects the same creator network to The Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt, a gay-parenting story in the collection. Google Books records a later title, Our ROPA Journey, a Lesbian Parenting Story. These links do not turn Recipes into an LGBTQ-family story, but they show why it sits near that literature.[4][5][6][7]

Family-Making Comparisons

Several collection items center the child's question of how a family came to be. Recipes offers the vocabulary that those stories often fold into plot: donor sperm, donor eggs, surrogacy, adoption, and reproductive medicine. That makes it a useful companion to books about two mothers, two fathers, and donor-assisted family formation. The comparison also prevents a narrow reading of LGBTQ-family representation as only social acceptance. Some books are about biology, bodies, reproduction, and the stories adults tell children about origins.[1][2][6]

Timeline

  1. 2007PublicationGoogle Books and Open Library record Recipes of How Babies Are Made as a 2007 publication.[2][3]
  2. 2009/2010Related creator-network titleThe Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt appears in the same family-formation network, with local and CFAS dates differing across records.[1][6]
  3. 2013Professional resource listingThe CFAS resource document includes Recipes among materials for discussing assisted reproduction and conception with children.[6]
  4. 2023Later lesbian-parenting titleGoogle Books records Our ROPA Journey, a Lesbian Parenting Story by Carmen Martinez Jover in the later creator network.[7]

Edition Notes

Known public records describe a 2007 English edition with 32 pages and ISBN 9789709410341.

2007

English edition

Google Books lists Carmen Martinez Jover as publisher, Rosemary Martinez as illustrator, and a 32-page extent.[2]

2007

Open catalog trace

Open Library preserves a matching title and creator search record for the book.[3]

Explore Connections

Browse direct links, shared themes, and nearby publication dates.

Linked records

Creator-network companion

The Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt, a Gay Parenting Story

Both records connect to the Carmen Martinez Jover and Rosemary Martinez family-formation network, with the companion title directly addressing gay-parenting and surrogacy themes.

References [6][4][5]

Family-origin explanation

Mom, Mama, and Me... and How I Came to Be!

Both books use child-facing language for donor conception and family origins, though one is informational and the other centers a two-mother family.

References [1][2]

Two-father family-making

Daddy and Pop

Both records are useful for explaining family formation through egg donation, surrogacy, or donor-assisted reproduction in child-facing terms.

References [1][6]

Extended kinship comparison

The Not-So-Only Child

Both books connect children's family narratives to assisted reproduction, donor links, and kinship beyond a single household.

References [1][8]

Shared themes

Adoption

Prism: Daddy and Papa

A periodical record centered on parenting, gay fatherhood, and adoption in LGBTQ print culture.

Adoption

The Roos, a Home for Baby

A Lulu picture book about two Daddyroos adopting a Babyroo and finding a way to carry the child.

Surrogacy

Where Did I Really Come From?

An Australian reproductive-education picture book that includes same-sex-parent families within conception, birth, surrogacy, and adoption explanations.

Surrogacy

The Baby Kangaroo Treasure Hunt, a Gay Parenting Story

A kangaroo story explaining egg donation and surrogacy for a two-father family.

Nearby dates

Published c. 2007

Does God Love Michael's Two Daddies?

A child-facing religious counter-text to LGBTQ-family and same-sex-marriage children's books.

Published 2007

Fostering and Adoption (Let's Talk About)

A photo-illustrated nonfiction book for children about fostering and adoption, with local evidence of same-sex adoptive-parent language.

Published 2007

If I Had a Hundred Mummies

An Onlywomen Press early-years title in the collection's UK two-mother picture-book cluster.

Published 2007

Josh and Jaz Have Three Mums

An adoption and fostering resource story about twins with two adoptive mothers, a birth mother, and a classroom family tree.

Citation

Recipes of How Babies Are Made. Carmen Martinez Jover; illustrated by Rosemary Martinez. Carmen Martinez Jover, 2007. Tarpey-Schwed LGBT Families Children's Book Special Collection, Mechanics' Institute. Collection ID: KB-112.

Showing Plain text citation format.

Sources

Cover image from Google Books.

  1. Local collection catalog record for Recipes of How Babies Are Made · catalog
  2. Google Books record for Recipes of How Babies are Made · book_database
  3. Open Library search record for Recipes of How Babies Are Made · library_api
  4. Carmen Martinez Jover fertility therapy and storytelling page · creator_biography
  5. Rosemary Martinez book site · creator_biography
  6. CFAS Counselling Special Interest Group resource document · professional_resource
  7. Google Books record for Our ROPA Journey, a Lesbian Parenting Story · book_database
  8. CM Magazine review of The Not-So-Only-Child · review
  9. Google Books cover image for Recipes of How Babies Are Made · image