Jessica Biel wrote a children’s book about periods hoping to de-stigmatize the topic

If you’re at all familiar with the story of NASA sending Sally Ride into space for one week and asking if 100 tampons would be enough to last her through the trip, then it may make sense why Jessica Biel wrote her debut children’s book on the topic of menstruation. 

“People don’t talk enough about periods,” Biel said in an interview with PEOPLE about “A Kids Book About Periods,” which she hopes will de-stigmatize the topic and educate youth, regardless of their gender identity, before they’re out in the world as adults lacking necessary intel. “I’ve always felt strongly that we need to normalize the discussion around periods and as a parent, writing this book felt like an organic way to engage kids in the conversation from early on.”

Scheduled for release on May 7 as the latest addition to Penguin Random House subsidiary DK’s “A Kids Book About” series in partnership with the nonprofit PERIOD, Biel drew from her own personal experience while writing the book, saying she felt terrified and unprepared when she first got her period, and wants to help prevent others from going through that.

“If we grownups have the confidence to tell the truth about how our bodies work, then we’ll give the kids around us the agency and voice to talk about their own bodies with confidence, now and for the rest of their lives,” she says.