I can really identify with this. As the mother of two little boys, one of whom is not yet talking, and the other of whom doesn't use complete sentences, I'm still waiting for some of this. For conversations. For him to ask, "Why?" It's happening. It's happening slowly. And every step along the way is precious, but still frustrating occasionally.

It's fun because it's interactive, but the only problem is, if you have a contrarian kid who decides to say yes, it doesn't work. Other than that, it's fun, and as the book says, it allows the little kid to say "no" and be more or less rewarded for it, which is kind of good because toddlers like to say "no" to many things despite not being in control.

Alexander's problems are real things that kids deal with, and mostly things that everybody deals with. Everybody has bad days, and it's something that kids could identify with and see that they're not alone. They'd be able to say, "I'm having a bad day just like Alexander."

It's not bad, it's just weird. It's totally unrealistic, and this kind of thing would never happen, so it's certainly not a bad message. But the message more or less boils down to, "Pretend that other people are special even though you know they're really not."

I guess a kid who likes trucks might enjoy the book, but the language is so basic and there's so little of it there, and the art doesn't really make up for it, that it would get annoying to read to a kid repeatedly.

I mean, I've got nothing against books. Obviously, this is a book, and I read it, and reading is great, but you kinda need to keep an eye on kids, especially in a place as big and dangerous as a beach. So it's very realistic, but I wouldn't want to give kids the wrong idea, that it's okay to wander off at the beach.

Not terribly interesting. I don't feel that my life has been enriched by reading this book. It's not terrible, but it's not terribly good.

Basically it's got a pretty strong, but not anvilicious message of "don't let people get to you." All you need is one person to help you with your dream.

The guy's generous, and he gets rewarded for it, in kind of a realistic manner. It's a little exaggerated, but basically he gives everything he has, and what he has gets broken, and then fixed by the thankful recipients.

It's a pretty heavy-handed message against greed. Playing with people is more fun than playing with objects. The message is true, but it's just very annoyingly presented.