A Florida plastic surgeon has penned a pinkish, sparkling children’s book that cutely explains, with pictures and text, why mothers get plastic surgery and what to expect in such situations.

“My Beautiful Mommy” is the first known picture book which aims to explain to 4 to 7 year-olds that sometimes mommies go through plastic surgery to be “pretty” and “feel better,” that plastic surgery is a good thing which should not scare the kids and that the moms will need time to recover.

Dr Michael Salzhauer, the Florida-based plastic surgeon who authored the already controversial book, says there is a need for such writing, as he has had numerous patients faced with the necessity to explain to their children the changes inherent with such a procedure.

“It sounds like a joke but there really is a need to address this issue,” Salzhauer told Reuters. “It is for the mom who has already booked her plastic surgery and now has to tell her kids, why she is going to be in bed, why daddy is picking the kids up from school and all those other issues.”

Salzhauer is a father of four, reports Reuters, and thinks patients going through “mommy makeovers” need help in assuring their children that mommy is still mommy, even though her tummy may become flatter, her nose straighter and her breasts perkier – that is, after the necessary bandaged rest in bed.

“Hundreds of thousands of women have this operation in the United States. This is for a specific consumer at a specific time in their life that is going to turn their household upside down for a couple of weeks,” he said.

The plastic surgeon also confessed that he did not expect criticism. His book has spurred online debates about the possible messages children may pick up from the book – that women need surgery to feel better about themselves and that plastic surgery is something to wish for, thus undermining their self-esteem even more.

“Do we really have to teach our kids that we need it to ‘feel better’ and be ‘beautiful’? Ugh,” writes Jessica Valenti, executive editor of the website www.feministing.com, emphasizing that she does not wish “to sit in judgment of those who get plastic surgery.”

In the book, a little girl learns that her mommy will change the way her nose and tummy look, because, “As I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore,” and that Dr Michael “is going to help fix that and make me feel better.”

Mommy’s new nose will make her look “not just different, my dear - prettier!”

What is perhaps still confusing is that Dr Michael has a superhero allure, while mommy looks like Barbie even before she goes through the surgeries. While she explains things to her daughter, the background is pink and there are sparkles around her.

The book is out on Mother’s Day.