Miriam Cohen really does a wonderful job with her books! This one is no exception to that rule! As a first grade teacher I would say she hit the nail on the head here! It teaches a valuable lesson in a gentle, easy to understand way! It presents many opportunities throughout to focus on some of the difficulties associated with being a new first grader! It also is a great lead-in to a beginning of the year unit on the celebration of being me! It shares the importance of being unique and free!

This is a very heartwarming book that allows students to see that we all "pick up" skills at different times. Being a first grade teacher, I know what it's like to see a child who becomes frustrated while watching everyone around them reading. This book speaks to the children that are waiting and watching everyone around them engage in the joy of reading. It provides them with the hope that in good time, they will be reading too!

Very cute story. I love that backpack baby and the new baby in the front carrier are on their DADDY! It is also wonderful to see that the babies are being carried, a nice switch from all the "stroller" type books out there. I have to agree that the placement of a baby bottle in one of the illustrations is upsetting. I understand that the children are with their father, but there is no need for a bottle in such a seemingly nurturing story. The illustrations in general are just terrible. All in all I would recommend the story to all families out there that carry their infants and want to reinforce that this is natural for many families. But I wish the pictures were as beautiful as the idea for the book was.

Sturdy board book with a simple story. Backpack baby is riding in a backpack on his father's back. He has a secret and whispers it to various people they pass on the street. We know not what the secret is until the end: Backpack baby has a new baby who is in a carrier on the front of Daddy! What a cute story.

Any parent who uses a baby carrier of any kind will appreciate this story as scenes depicting baby carrying are rarely seen in children's literature.

The only negative is the inclusion of backpack baby holdinga baby bottle. A disappointment to me as a breastfeeding mother. I don't like images of baby bottles in children's literature as I feel it portrays bottle-feeding as the normal infant feeding method. If he is old enough to speak sentences to passers-by I'd think he should be drinking from a cup instead anyway! (I used a little sticker to cover up the bottle and will keep this book in our family libary. I usually throw away books with images of baby bottles in them.)

I am a huge fan of the backpack baby series and can't wait for more to come. This book is colorful and has a nice story. Little kids can get their hands on it and it lasts! We enjoy it as a family immensely!

When Jim's first grade class goes on a field trip to the Natural History Museum, Jim and some friends get seperated from the group. Jim struggles with courage as he is frightened by a dinosaur skeleton, but regains his bravery to find their teacher. I like the illustrations of the museum, especially the one in which Jim is alone in a room with a giant blue whale hanging above... he looks down to its tail and finds his group. It's nice to read about Jim again. We enjoyed him in the book "Will I Have a Friend?" when Jim is in preschool.

this book is purly just something to read out of curiosity. The book has some good history, but there is so much ignorance within recent history portion that this book is laughable...You prabably know more without the book. Check it out of the library don't buy it.

Blind people can do far more than find their way in the dark. They have much more talent and ability than guiding you through a dark basement. Charles, the blind student in the story, does not even engage in dialogue until the last couple pages of the book. The children in his class speak for him, condescend him, and assume he is useless, until they are trapped in the dark basement. Some students even waited to let him finish his math first, yet when it was time to help him find his seat (a legitimate need) the teacher discouraged it. Where was she when the prizefighter was doing his thing! This book was so offensive to both my husband and I that I refused to read it to my first grade class. I give it one star for motivating me to write my own children's book addressing blindness.

As a school psychologist, I ordered several books to use with primary grade school children to aid in sensitizing them to children with special needs. I was disappointed in this book because the author discusses actions of the characters, that while socially undesirable, were not addressed as such. For example, the text begins,"It was the third week of school. Danny was being a prizefighter. He ran around yelling 'Knock Out!' and punching people. But he didn't punch the new boy..." who is visually impaired and from that point it is stated that he shouldn't punch the viusally impaired child because he couldn't see him...the impression left is everyone else is fair game. Another example concerned a description of the activity engaged in by the children on the playground. One child is described as running around biting the girls sweaters (pretending he's a shark), yet no mention of consequences or discussion of the fact that this is unacceptable behavior follows. Finally, an incident takes place where one of the boys teases his girl classmate about being "in love" with the viusally impaired child (because of her protective nature over him) and then it is said that the girl wanted to hit him but didn't because the teacher was in the room! Nothing more! I encourage educators and parents not to purchase this book.

While I applaud the dedication of the anonymous school psychologist who criticized this book for its lack of moralizing, let me offer this: a work of literature is more elusive and subtle than a sermon, its value potentially far more powerful -- for spoonfed values, anyone can read to children from The Book of Virtues and bore them silly. Miriam Cohen's gift is in being able to present with subtlety and wisdom a situation fraught with conflict that can lead to a moral discussion, without providing obvious consequences and answers. Books such as this are a blessing to parents who read to their children and cherish listening to their reactions and guiding them as they sort out moral issues for themselves. If they start thinking about these lessons through books, they will already be on the right road when similar issues come up in the classroom.

If all books were judged by the standards of this reviewer, there would be no Cat in the Hat (chaos is fun, no consequences suffered), Mulberry Street (lying is okay), Where the Wild Things Are (obstreperous behavior rewarded by a hot meal). Let literature and children breathe.