Not to belabor this whole concept, but I thought I'd give an update now that school has actually started.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this on the earlier thread, but the backpack arrived and it looked a lot less girly in person than it did in the thumbnail pics on the LLBean website.
He's been in school for a week and received no comments. He switches classes for math, and someone who has his math teacher for homeroom also has the backpack. He's not sure if the other person is a boy or a girl.
In other, more important news, he's LOVING his new school. The teachers are great, the kids are nice, and the work is much more challenging.
Re: Update: "girly" backpack