"Great photos, simple family story, activity guide. I very highly recommend this book to parents and daycares. It is educational and makes an excellent Early Reader as well.

The background colors are warm and bright on each page and the photographs show the family doing all sorts of different activities. One of my favorites is when the baby wakes up in the kitchen. The table is covered with flour and apples are found in different states of being peeled and cut for what looks like pie baking. The baby’s brother is holding two apple rings at his eyes like glasses and has his tongue stuck out. This is such a warm and loving feeling page and really emphasizes a family working and playing together.

I am so pleased with how interactive and educational this book is and I feel that it is really a bargain even if you have to pay full price for it.

I was surprised how intently the 3 and 4 year olds paid attention as I was reading. More surprising is that they seemed even more involved the second time through and I feel that adding a new challenge to each reading helps to keep these books very educational for a very long time.

This book is very educational with brief text and fantastic photographs. Children are drawn to photos and especially to photos of babies, this book has lots of both beautifully put together."
-Kathy Salazar
Epinions.com

"Dia L. Michels, author of If My Mom Were a Platypus, shows us a family during every life. The baby, who is worn by Mom or Dad, focuses on a single object. Then the picture zooms out to show a complete scene. A side game is to find the apple in each picture. Ideal for reading to babies, toddlers and pre-readers. Series titles include: In the Neighborhood, At Home, With My Animal Friends, Visiting China, and At the Synagogue. Features baby wearing, family bed, breastfeeding, and a family comfortable with it all."
-Susy Parker Goins
Natural Family Online, July 2005

Read it at: http://www.natural-family.com/books/childrens-book-reviews.htm

"A walk around the neighborhood seen through the eyes of a baby in a sling, this book is illustrated with attractive, glossy photographs, and written with interactive text. Each page presents a new day of the week, with baby waking up from a nap and seeing something: "On Wednesday, I fell asleep in my sling. When I woke up, I saw a fish. Where was I?" On the question page is a picture of a fish. The following double-page spread reveals a photo of baby and mom looking into a big fish tank... at the aquarium! Our children love the rhythm of the words and questions, as well as the photographs and the mystery of finding out where baby has awoken."
-Soltera Books

"Vibrant photos take a child through different series in their young life. Whether it is through the neighborhood, at home, or out with animal friends, the young reader will enjoy guessing where they are. The pictures move from one specific clue to a large vibrant picture that shows the family interacting with each other. Matching and recognition skills development in the young child can be enhanced with this cute series of books. This story rates 3 hearts."
-Jane Deskis
Heartland Reviews March/April 2003 www.heartlandreviews.com

"...very highly recommended for preschool, daycare center, elementary school, and community library collections is Dia Michels and Michael Bowles companion book, Look What I See! Where Can I Be?At Home."
-Midwest Book Review

"My family grew by one in December. James' arrival prompted me, once again, to try to see the world from a tiny baby's perspective, and reminded me of Dia Michels' Look What I See! Where Can I Be? series of picture books. I shared her In The Neighborhood volume with delight with my first child. When I found that two more books in the series had been published since Tom's birth, I was thrilled. Now available are At Home and With Animal Friends, and two more- In China and At The Synagogue - are due out this year.

The Look What I See books present a wonderful combination of a babies perspective on the world around her, loving family interaction, reassuring rhythm, and repetition, and guessing game. Bold photographs show a family (Dia's, in fact) on the go. Baby falls asleep in one place and wakes up in another thanks to a wagons, baby slings, backpacks, and other forms of baby conveyance. When the baby wakes up she sees something interesting, and the guessing game begins. Days of the week provides basic structure.

"On Friday, I fell asleep in my backpack. When I woke up, I saw flowers. Where was I?" (Turn the page) "At the park."

Each book cover's a weeks worth of adventures and observations. Each day's mystery starts with a small photo of detail, like flowers. When the page is turned, the entire scene is revealed. Photos depict family members together, and Daddy and Siblings are just as involved with Baby as Mom.

The design of the books engages all the family members too. The simple text and photos of Baby will certainly appeal to babies. Toddlers will like the rhythm, repetition, and bright photos. Preschoolers will like the guessing game and searching for the baby doll and apple included in each double-page spread. Older sibling will enjoy how big Brother and Sister play pivotal roles in the stories and the photos. Parents will enjoy watching how the children grow as the book progress. The baby In My Neighborhood is a toddler by the time With Animal Friends was photographed, and Brother and Sister have clearly grown too.

As a nursing mother and a children's literacy specialist, I've noticed that very few children's books depict babies nursing. The "Sunday" page of In The Neighborhood has a beautiful and very discreet photo of Dia nursing Baby on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. After careful inspection, I noticed that the With My Animal Friends book shows Dia wearing several different nursing tops. While I think the Look What I See books would make a great gift for any family with a baby, they would be very encouraging to a new nursing mother as well.

The Look What I See books would also be useful in early in early childhood education settings. Their structure and design are ideal for starting discussions with young children, talking about days of the week, and cultivating observation and reasoning skills. To make them even more useful to educators, Dia's company has created activity guides for each book, available online at platypusmedia.com. The guides are great resources for parents and teachers alike.

These beautiful, gentle picture books encourage small children to be aware of the world around them. They depict family members together, caring for each other. They are filled with reassuringly familiar images, yet have some surprises to keep them fun. And top-notch photography and design make these books a pleasure to look at, again and again."
-Eileen Hanning
Educational Specialist for The Reading Connection

Eileen Hanning is an educational specialist for The Reading Connection and mother of two boys. She is also past president of the DC Chapter and chair of the WNBA Pannell Award for Excellence in Children's Bookselling.