"[1][2] According to Publishers Weekly, the children described in rhymes include "familiar targets for jokes – a kid who vomits after eating 16 Twinkies at the Halloween party; a boy who brings odiferous lunches; the girl who is a 'chubby-plus'; the math whiz whose clothes don't fit.

"[3] Other examples highlighted by School Library Journal include "Anna May Johnson who...'didn't need a reason to give a kid a whack'...Ruthie Drew, who stuffs the valentine box with cards for herself...Molly and Polly McShane, twins of unequal intellect", and Ray Tupper who "tells everyone that his dad was in the CIA".

[6] Through the classroom decorations or reading lists in the drawings, Betty and Michael Paraskevas make reference to their books Junior Kroll (1993) and Monster Beach (1995).

She praised the drawings and classified the book as a "whimsical look into classroom life" which entices "young readers and listeners".

[6] Writing for the Telegraph Herald, Lynn Hoffmann labeled the verses "humorous" and deemed the illustrations neatly elaborate.

[12] Publishers Weekly wrote that the majority of the poems resemble "aborted starts to larger stories" and that nearly every verse contains "at least one awkward rhyme".

[13][14] The Kids from Room 402 consisted of 52 episodes which aired on Teletoon in Canada and on Fox Family Channel in the United States from 1999 to 2001.