Jim Meets the Thing [Paperback]

Miriam Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Jim is the only one in the first grade who is scared of The Thing on television. He feels so ashamed. No one else is afraid. He won't even play Super Heroes with the rest of the class. But when a praying mantis walks on Danny's arm, no one wants to touch it. Only one brave first grader dares to take it off. Who could it be?

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Jim is the only one in the first grade who is scared of The Thing on television. He feels so ashamed. No one else is afraid. He won't even play Super Heroes with the rest of the class. But when a praying mantis walks on Danny's arm, no one wants to touch it. Only one brave first grader dares to take it off. Who could it be?

From the Inside Flap

Jim is the only one in the first grade who is scared of The Thing on television. He feels so ashamed. No one else is afraid. He won't even play Super Heroes with the rest of the class. But when a praying mantis walks on Danny's arm, no one wants to touch it. Only one brave first grader dares to take it off. Who could it be?

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (September 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044041167X
• ISBN-13: 978-0440411673
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,064,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to First Grade, September 13, 2005

By 

Bonnie Sayers "autismfamily" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jim Meets the Thing (Paperback)

Welcome to First Grade! is a series of books written by Miriam Cohen from the 1980's with Lillian Hoban as the illustrator.

The books in this series follow along the adventures of Jim, Danny, Margaret, Willy, Sara, Anna Maria, Louie, Paul and George. It has become enjoyable to follow the stories of this first grade class and see how it applies to today's schooling.

The boys wear long sleeved striped shirts while the girls have flowing dresses with tights on and ribbons in their hair. Both boys and girls wear sweaters to so this indicates the time of year must be winter. The children represent multi-cultures and have dots for their eyes and nose. These kids bring lunch in either paper bags or boxes and have a thermos for the drink.

In Jim Meets the Thing many of the kids are wearing scarves around their necks. Lunch is outside within the playground with the boys and girls playing on the swings, with a ball and climbing a jungle gym. The story begins with Jim at home in front of the television watching a show entitled The Thing. He was so scared that night he could not sleep thinking that The Thing would come out of the television set to get him.

Upon his arrival at school the kids were gathered at the playground discussing The Thing. Danny loved it, Willy thought The Thing was very strong and Anna Maria liked when The Thing swallowed the car with four people in it. Jim wanted the conversation to stop. The kids were inside now hanging up their sweaters, hats and scarves when Jim said not to talk about The Thing anymore. The teasing started but no one paid attention to Jim as he tried to tell the others that he was not scared. Silently Jim wondered if he was the only kid in first grade to be get scared.

My son liked reading Jim Meets the Thing and laughing about what the kids thought was scary and seeing how they played on the playground. My son was able to read this through in under an hour and is able to recite the names of the classmates with ease now that he has read So What?, Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! and First Grade Takes a Test. Some of the words he got stuck on were gymnastics, squashed and Dracula.

Reading through the books in the Welcome to First Grade! series gives me a little glimpse into the daily happenings of kids as they spend the day at school. This would be well suited for kids in the six to eight year old age bracket, from first to second grade.