Toddlers couldn't even learn something from this book...
341748
The laborious, trite and utterly useless content in this book really makes one wonder just who ACTUALLY needs things like this.  The values, concepts, etc. covered in the book should be known, understood and well accepted by the time one reaches, at the latest, 10 years of age.  As for the corporate aspect of things:  it is absolutely insulting and doesn't even qualify as "half-truth".

There is a wide variety of thought-provoking, conversation-inspiring and life-changing books out there written on similar topics.  However, unlike this book, they are written in an adult, intelligent style.  This book treats the reader like a child and provides no real "meat" to think about/discuss.

I would highly recommend reading some other books that ride on a much more foundation of intelligence, but ones that go beyond mere acceptance and discuss some of the psychological and sociological aspects of the world.

Too put it shorty:
There's nothing to learn from this childish trash unless there really is something EXTREMELY wrong with your understanding of the world.

Don't insult yourself.

I never encouraged the burning of books.  Then I read this.
2083545
Our kids went through about lesson 55, but then got bored and daunted by the long stories and relative paucity of pictures (just one small picture is included in each chapter.)  SO, the major failing is that this book, by itself, isn't really "fun" enough to hold our children's interest.  We supplemented it with "[...]" and "bob books first" and "scholastic early readers" books.  The headsprout stuff is so much fun that our kids are dying to play with it every day.  they also like to read the scholastic early readers.  we occasionally do a lesson from this book but ITS RELATIVELY BORING compared to other ways of teaching our kids.  Teaching should be "fun", there is not much "fun" in this book.

The biggest failing of this book is that it does not teach enough rules, and does not spend enough time educating the teacher in how to present.  for example, i found myself very frustrated because my kids did not know the "silent e" rules for decoding words, and they did not know what vowels were.  the book also does not have a list of phonemes or sub-phonemes that you could just make sure you kids know to pronounce together, sounds like "th", "sh", "gh", etc., cannot be easily understood by following the phonics rules in this book (at least, at chapter 55, they weren't.)  There are no self-assessment tests to ensure that your kids are prepared to go onwards.  All in all, the major weakness of this curriculum is that it requires a high degree of teaching skill to implement successfully, as there is very little curriculum theory in the book.

our kids can decode but what's really the problem is that they lack their own motivation to decode and read.  they will occasionally read things and try to spell things on their own, but they don't have the motivation to pick up an early reader book and get through the entire book, on their own, yet.  i do not think we are "pushing" our kids so much, as they just don't have the right stuff (and we don't have the time to design something from scratch) that makes reading "fun".

Our twin boys just turned 4 years old.  disclaimer: both parents are engineers, one with a ph.d.
2080575
I had read this to myself at the library and chuckled quite a bit, but reading it aloud to my toddler was a whole other story.  My daughter who literally loves every book she can get her hands on was so disinterested -- not even the illustrations captivated her in any way.  I realized that the humor, parody, and illustrative style would only appeal to a much older child.
2138483
I bought this book thinking it would really generate interest since it's about a boy named Parker, which is also my son's name.  However, this book is not in the least bit interesting for a two year old.  It's very wordy and the pictures inside are black and white (some cartoon, some photos) and of random objects, like a table or a stack of blocks.  My son listened to the first page, said "I don't like it" and has refused to so much as look at it since, and this is a kid who LOVES his books and begs me to read his three other potty training books to him.  With all the wonderful potty training books available for kids, this one falls so short I wish I could return it just because it is so terrible.
3398749
I don't get it, how did it get to be so popular? Did somebody sponsor it, and did other people follow the trend to be cool? I love love kids books, some books are great for kids to read and discover on their own, some books have great pictures and details, some have a great story. This book has nothing, absolutely nothing!!! I work with small children, have four little ones of my own. I ordered this book to read in preschool, since it was on the recommended reading list for pre-school. I'm returning this, what a waste of paper, cause yes, that would be the only positive thing I can say about this book, it's a solid cardboard book.
3876087
I don't know how this book has so many 5 star reviews because the 500 PAGE book doesn't even tell you how to get your child to sleep through the night. It just cites pages and pages of studies, statistics, the effects of sleep deprivation, etc. and doesn't tell you in any straight-forward fashion how to FIX the the sleep problem. In NO way is it a "step-by-step" guide. Where are the steps? Hidden among the rambling text of statistics and graphs, the author sort of implies ways to get your child to sleep longer. However, these little treasures of actual useful information aren't in any linear order. Are these the "steps"? Who knows. Don't buy the book, and just look for the cliff notes version online.
2231213
I'm not exagurating. Unless you've been living under the rock and want to know what's going on in the world of the Internet - this book could ( but don't count on it ) be useful to you. The whole book is complete garbage. Stating obvious facts that even a five year old knows is not good enough to call it a book. I have learned nothing about the Facebook or Twitter that my 11 year old doesn't already know. So, save some money and time!
1738719
I was told it is a very popular beginning reader chapter book series so I bought it and started to read it to my grandchildren

I WAS APPALLED!!! OUTRAGED

The grammar is atrocious- a true disservice to those learning the rudiments of language and reading. Will the author try misspellings and misformed letters next?

Joanie B. Jones is supposed to be in kindergarten, but the vocabulary/grammar cutsies are not even those of a two- two1/2 year-old.  They are just stupid. This is not an attempt at dialogue or street talk. The illustrations show JBJ as white, and big, and the errors are not street or dialect.

For instance [from _Sneaky Peeky Spying_]:

"I'm the bestest spier in the whole world"

"I hidded in the dirty clothes hamper "

"And Mother runned into the room."

"Except for she beated me."

"And we all runned to Room Niine Speedy quick."

That's every two pages. I won't go on.

Skip this series.
93059
I had high hopes in this book. All I got was disbelief and disappointment. What I thought was a Beginners Book for Adults is written in a style more child-like than the ones actually written for children. It is only a teaching guide for the most simple and basic of knowledge. The "projects it teaches you, is to cut off the collar and sleeves of a shirt. Add elastic at the cut and wear it belted as a short dress from the breasts down. The 2nd great idea is to cut a t-shirt the same way and wear that at the waist. This is truly the most useless "complete guide", that I could have purchased!
169804
I bought this for my daughter thinking there would be actual activities.  I was way wrong.  There are 365 different things to look at and point out, but not any kind of games or learning activites (other then pointing to blue and red).  Also, the pages are thin and it is spiral bound so my 19 month old has now destroyed about half the book.  I would go for something else!
1456180
I wan't a simple, quick refresher on some basic French phrases, but this book was not helpful at all.  The beginning starts with the names of different animals, and has some complete sentences, but there is no guide to pronunciation.  I deleted it after reading the first two chapters, to free up space for something more useful.
1934290
I am honestly not a fan of this book. My kids were completely uninterested in it and couldn't really see what the point of it was. It is far too abstract to be interesting or to be used as an educational tool with children.
4115227
not enough things to teach the child, not worth the money
2885317
I found this stilted and totally uninspiring, even for my 3 year old....he was bored silly by the book. Maybe good for the under 2 crowd?
1328905
This was a free book, but it was so "duh!" to me that I didn't find it helpful at all. I suppose it's a great book for cavemen or those who have NO common sense and realize it's nice to say "please, thank you". I do think our society is forgetting manners more and more but this book doesn't really offer advice or any helpful tools. It goes over all the manners we should teach our kids and that WE ROLE MODEL these to teach. That's it...there's no other helpful advice to teach them other than to role model.
4440473
I understand the simplicity that is necessary for a book targeted to toddlers, as a "first" book.  But to be quite honest, this book is garbage for, if no other reason, then the last page perpetuates a false understanding of God, church, and the Christian relationship.  For instance, the last page says:

"When we leave church, we say, "Bye, God.  I'll visit again soon."

So God is trapped in the church building?  We're only "friends" and "loved" by God (page 1) while we're at His house?  I appreciate an emphasis on the importance of church, but this book doesn't even get the idea of church right.  It emphasizes a building, not the people.  And it emphasizes what happens in that building as if it only happens in that building.  As God wants to have a constant relationship with us, this book falls beyond short.  People are the church.  We don't have to be in a "church" building to pray to God, listen to God's Word, think about God, or sing hymns.  This book is an attempt and that is about all that can be said for it.  I'd give it no stars if that were possible.  Some may think that is harsh, and that "it's just a children's book."  Well a children's book that gives out false teachings is worthless.  And it is no wonder when one finds out that it is published by Reader's Digest.  I honestly have no idea how we came into possession of this book, but it is going in the trash.
4346622
The book has no catchy poetry, no endearing attributes of the animals, and the singing is well below par.  Perhaps a three year old might like it, once, but, otherwise, it will be a walk-away experience for children and parents.  Go to the zoo, make up your own songs, but skip this book!