Back to School Books

School is quickly approaching…only a few more weeks of summer around here! I thought I would give you a heads-up on some great books to prepare your child (and yourself) for the special days ahead.

 

The Kissing Handis probably one of the most popular books for parents to read to their children getting ready to go to school. It’s an endearing tale of a Mama Raccoon and little Chester Raccoon. Chester is getting ready for his first day of school and he is worried about leaving his Mama. To help alleviate Chester’s fears, Mama Raccoon gives Chester a kiss right on the palm of his hand and tells him to put it to his cheek whenever he is missing Mama. A must-read for every parent/child when heading off to school!

Owen by Kevin Henkes is a precious story of a little guy named Owen who is getting ready to head off to school. But Owen is quite discouraged when he finds out he can’t take his beloved blanket (Fuzzy) with him to school. What’s Owen to do? Thankfully, his mom comes up with a solution that lets Owen keep Fuzzy with him all the time.

The Night Before Preschool by Natasha Wing is the perfect book to read to children getting ready to go to preschool! Other books can be found by the same author: The Night Before Kindergarten and The Night Before First Grade.

 Chrysanthemum(another wonderful book by Kevin Henkes) is currently Big Brother’s favorite book. Chrysanthemum loves her name! It is absolutely perfect…until she goes to school. The other children tease her by saying things like “it is soooo long (it scarcely fits on your name tag)” and “I was named after my grandmother, you were named after a flower.” Chrysanthemum wilts. But a special teacher makes all the difference in her life and she realizes to like herself for who she is!

I absolutely loved reading My Teacher Sleeps in Schoolto my students on the first day of school! It is a silly story about a belief that young children often have…that their teacher lives at the school. In fact, there was one year that I brought my house slippers and put curlers in my hair the very next day after reading this book. Of course, I told the children afterwards, but we all had fun with this book!

What is your favorite “back to school” book?

8 Comments

  1. When I was still teaching I always read the Sesame Street book “You Help Me, I’ll Help You, The Helping book”. Loved tying this in on how I needed the kiddos help to make the year go great!

  2. I like the book Mrs. Bindergarten Goes to Kindergarten. It is all about how she doesn’t want to get out of bed and go to school because she is scared. You don’t know she is the teacher till the very end of the book. It is cute and gives another perspective on the going to kindergarten fear. I loved it especially when I was headed to “kindergarten” to teach as I was quite worried I wouldn’t do very well.

  3. Thanks for mentioning my Night Before books! There’s also a Sticker Story book for The Night Before Kindergarten that just came out this year with 75 stickers.

  4. We just picked up “DW Goes to Preschool” from the library. Thanks for this list. I need to add a few as our first “first” day is coming soon.

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