Customer Reviews

The Day Phonics Kicked In: Baby Blues Goes Back to School

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I think it should have been better advertised that this was a compilation book of old strips, not the newest collection. I was really excited for the next one, and preordered this.

I will grant it that some of the school strips are the best of Kirkman and Scott, but if you already own most of the BB books, this isn't a necessary purchase.

I was so looking forward to the next regular installment of this comic strip (which the local newspaper unaccountably doesn't carry). I was so disappointed to discover that despite looking for all the world like a regular, almost-square collection of last year's strips, it's actually a "treasury" of all the strips they've ever done about school. Perhaps it might make a good gift for a teacher, but I think I'll be figuring out Amazon's return policy for the first time ever.

Ditto: Same for Baby Blues as for Zits Pierced. I wasn't so lucky with this one, because I had it pre-ordered. When I go it, my surprise was huge! Another rehash! I have every sketchbook, so I got stuck with this rip-off. Again, shame on you. At least, have the nerve to call it a treasury.

I'm posting this at the top level so it would be more easily found(I posted part of this also as a comment).

Sorry if you were confused. We tried to make it as plain as possible on the cover by saying "BABY BLUES GOES BACK TO SCHOOL" and "SELECTED CARTOONS BY RICK KIRKMAN & JERRY SCOTT." I don't know how else to say it without putting a bunch of other copy on the cover. "Selected" means just that: we selected cartoons--it wasn't a chronological collection.

The descriptive copy here on Amazon says: "In this, the 24th Baby Blues Scrapbook collection, Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott have scoured their archives for the very best of the Baby Blues school- and education-related strips." That's also a pretty clear explanation. You'll also notice that the book is not numbered (all chronological collections by Andrews McMeel since the 4th book are numbered). I'll see if I can get the description to drop the "24th Baby Blues Scrapbook collection"--that is definitely an error on the part of the publisher.

Neither we or Andrews McMeel are in this to rip anyone off. That would be a ridiculously stupid business practice. We have tried to make this new type of book clear. Maybe we'll look into using a different shape next time. The only problem with that is if you do that, it changes the number of pages you end up with and may not fitting with the publisher's setup.

Any other suggestions for how to differentiate something like this would be appreciated. We plan to do other "theme" books in the future. Thanks.

P.S. In order to post this, I had to add a star rating, but note that I didn't rate it any higher than the other highest ratings.

I agree with the other reviewers. There was nothing in the title to indicate that this was a compilation of formerly published strips. We eagerly anticipated the book and then felt like we'd wasted our money, since we own the other books that already include these cartoons.

What a disappointment! If it didn't cost so much to return the book, it'd be in the mail right now.

However -- if you don't own other Baby Blues books, this might be the one for you.

I have all of the baby blues collection books and was thrilled when I saw this new one. Imagine my disappointment upon seeing the first panel was a repeat, and quite an old one. A quick flip through the book showed only the last FOUR PAGES of the book were new!

Baby Blues has been very good about distinguishing between 'collections' and 'treasuries' by making the books look completely different. The fact that this book looks exactly like a 'collection' book is VERY misleading and, I feel, likely a deliberate deception on the publishers part.

I will be returning this book from whence it came.

I bought this thinking it was full of new strips. Surprise, it was just old strips picked up from all the previous books. Seems to be happening for the Zits books as well (Jeremy and Mom, Pierced). I returned it for a full refund. Pity though, I would have used my 40% coupon at Borders on some other book...

I am really mad at the publishers...

They used all comics from other books, just school related. As someone who doesn't read newspapers, I wait for the books to get my Baby Blues fix. I opened this with such excitement only to be completely disappointed.

I am a big fan of Baby blues. I was hoping when I ordered this that it would be a continuation of the strip but instead when I received it I found that it contains works that I already own in other books. I will probably be giving this away as a gift.
It is not a bad book and it acts like a "best of" type book but for me I would have rather received something different and new.