A Backpack Full Of 14 Books
The perfect picture books to get ready for the excitement (and jitters) of the first day of school!
The last few weeks have been overwhelming for me. We’re planning updates to our home and I’m also busy with new projects on the work front and, of course, funneling creativity into this newsletter. Add in a dash of toddler and, well, it’s been a ride.
At the beginning of each week, I check in with my weekly to-do list that I keep on my iPhone Reminders app. Usually, even if it’s long, I know when I’ll have the time to get through things and, if not, don’t worry too much about pushing a project down the road. But with the home updates and other work project deadlines looming, I panicked when I looked at the to-do list and could feel myself shutting down. When in flight, fight, or freeze mode, my body always chooses to freeze.
Whenever this happens, it feels like the walls are closing in. And not just any walls, but walls so high they block out the sky and the light. It feels like I’m Rapunzel trapped on the first floor of a tower with no windows or doors. I feel as if I’m in a hole I’ll never be able to crawl out of.
Breathe.
I inhaled and exhaled and glanced at the list again. My body started to tense up.
One step at a time.
My focus narrowed and I chose one thing on the list that would be easy to get checked off ASAP.
Just as I finished that task, “One step at a time,” drifted across my consciousness again. I stilled. That voice was my voice. The voice I used to calm down my kid when she started getting frustrated because she couldn’t figure something out.
Hearing my voice speaking to myself like that completely gobsmacked me. I am not known for patience (and I find it highly ironic when I chide my kid for not having more patience) so having this voice trying to calm me was truly bizarre. And the gentleness of it brought me to tears.
The kindness and love of that voice splintered through the paralysis and let me put my head down and get through the tasks ahead of me one at a time. One decision at a time. One thought at a time.
If you’ve ever spoken to a child in a soft, encouraging voice, I hope you turn that voice on yourself. You’re still learning and adapting and growing. You deserve to speak to yourself in that same tone of kindness and encouragement too.
And just like that, summer break is winding down (or ended completely for some of us) and back-to-school season is back! Here’s an edited and updated newsletter I shared last year for one of my favorite times of the year. To make this easy for yourself, feel free to scroll down to the sections that are relevant to you:
NOTE: The “What to expect from school” and “Excited to start schools” books are fun reads for all kids. For the rest of the books, I’d stick to reading the books that address your kid’s specific anxiety. The last thing you want to do is accidentally plant seeds of doubt for something they aren’t even worried about!
In Case You Missed It…
Tips for back-to-school season
Check out my post of my favorite Olympics children’s books if you’re feeling sad about the Olympics coming to an end
There’s still time to knock Week 5 of the Summer Story Challenge out of the park!
For babies and toddlers…
Lola Goes To School
Written by Anna McQuinn and Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw
Recommended Ages: 2-5 years
This adorable book outlines what a day at school can look like for toddlers. As Lola gets ready and attends school, kids get a peek into all the different activities they’ll do at school. I would recommend this for toddlers starting in daycare or preschool. The illustrations are soothing with their rich hues and soft edges. I also loved the diverse representation in this book!
Buy now*: English | Spanish
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten
Written by Joseph Slate and Illustrated by Ashley Wolff
Recommended Ages: 5-6 years
This fun book shows everyone—students and teacher alike—getting ready for the beginning of the new school year. It’s done in a creative way to also encourage kids to recognize the alphabet. We start with Adam Krupp waking up on the first day of school and, one by one, students with names starting with the other letters of the alphabet getting ready. Interspersed are scenes of Miss Bindergarten coming in early to get her room ready for her new Kindergarteners. The rhyming text that helps us acquainted with each student just adds to the fun. The illustrations are exceptionally well-done. Simple for each student but really come to life in the scenes with Miss Bindergarten—lots of little details that add to the charm of Miss Bindergarten’s room.
Buy now*
For kids wondering what school will be like…
Mermaid School
Written by Joanne Steward Wetzel and Illustrated by Julianna Swaney
Recommended Ages: 2-5
This makes me want to grow a mermaid's tail and jump straight into the ocean. Surely a Mermaid School does exist?! The subdued pastel watercolor drawings are ethereal and gentle. You can’t help but want to make a seashell necklace for yourself or learn your A-B-Seas. We follow Molly, an outgoing mergirl, on her first day of school and all the activities she does. I loved the clever way of changing some details to incorporate the realities of undersea living. For example, trumpet fish and drum fish provide musical accompaniment during Molly’s music class. With its rhyming text, it’s fun to read aloud and observe how things are a little different at Mermaid School. The very last page is a precious Mermaid School handbook with the cutest instructions and tips. This will be a hit with the merpeople-loving kids!
Buy now*
Planet Kindergarten
Written by Sue Ganz-Schmitt and Illustrated by Shane Prigmore
Recommended Ages: 3-6 years
I ADORED this take on a day in kindergarten. Kids’ imaginations are so vivid and such a vital learning tool for them to explore the world. This book leans right into their scope for imagination and creatively transforms kindergarten into a planet. All its students are little aliens exploring Planet Kindergarten for the day before returning to their home planets (and parents). The book does a clever job of changing the details we’re so familiar with into space-themed ones. Teachers are commanders and playgrounds are equipment testing sites. The illustrations are powerful and dynamic and very thematic. It truly makes you feel like you’re in a space!
Buy now*
For kids ready for first-day fun…
So you’ve got kids who are raring to go. Yay! Hope these books bring a smile to their faces as the first day of school takes an unexpected turn…
Puppy Bus
Written by and Illustrated by Drew Brockington
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
A young boy boards the big yellow school bus filled with trepidation. Not excited at all about the first day at a new school, he realizes once he’s on the bus that it’s actually full of puppies. With no adult in sight and confused as heck, he sticks it out and you uncover what it must be like to go to puppy school. The story is hilarious and you can’t help but giggle as he attends the various classes or uses the bathroom. The illustrations are nice but it’s the well-done expressiveness of the main character that really makes the story shine.
Buy now*
Monster School: First Day Frights
Written by and Illustrated by Dave Keane
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
When Norm starts his first day of school, he knows he won’t fit in. He’s just an ordinary young boy—average, even—but he knows at this school he’s going to be pretty different. You see Norm’s school is actually a school for monsters and Norm’s lack of horns, tails, and fangs means he stands out. As he goes about his day, being unintentionally different, you can’t help but laugh at his interactions with the other students. Soon they realize Norm is one of them even if he is different. This is a great story to remind kids that no matter the school, learning is still learning; and, no matter how different you are, you can still find and make friends.
Buy now*
Mr. S
Written by and Illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
Recommended Ages: 5-7 years
This is a most unusual story. What do you get when you put a group of children who are attending school for the very first time with no teacher in sight? Children who start to believe that their teacher is a sandwich, obviously. You get lesson plans that are themed around sandwiches of course. There is absolutely no way you or your kids can read this book and not be smiling ear-to-ear. And I encourage you to peek out the classroom window and see what else is happening as the kids continue their school day. This book is truly a gem and the watercolor and pencil artwork is warm and inviting in its coziness. It makes you want to curl up on the circle time rug with the kids and stare up at Mr. S.
Buy now*
For kids filled with first-day jitters…
Sesame Street’s What If… Answers To Calm First-Day-Of-School Jitters
Written by Sonali Fry and Illustrated by Joe Mathieu
Recommended Ages: 3-6 years
This is a fantastic “reference” book to help kids navigate starting or returning to school. No matter how excited a kid is to resume school, some nervousness is bound to be a part of the experience. Various Sesame Street characters ask their adults questions about starting or going back to school and the adults provide thoughtful responses. This isn’t necessarily a book that I would sit and read with a kid front to back. Rather, if they’re nervous about something specific, this book can be a fun way to show them that their favorite Sesame Street characters have anxiety around some of the same things too. Even if you don’t read it with your kids, this is pretty helpful for adults too on how to respond when a child mentions shares their feelings of anxiety.
Buy now*
Norman’s First Day At Dino Day Care
Written and Illustrated by Sean Julian
Recommended Ages: 2-6 years
Norman is a small yellow dinosaur starting his first day at Dino Day Care. The thing about Norman is he’s rather shy. Unused to so many familiar faces and high-pitched voices, Norman is often hiding behind things. With each activity, we see Norman long to play with others but his natural reticence takes over. Even when he pushes himself, it ends disastrously (according to him). He finally has a talk with his teacher who encourages him and reminds him it’s okay to be shy. When he is paired with another dinosaur to perform something, Norman befriends another dinosaur and together they muster up the bravery to perform something. This was a really sweet story that will strike a chord with bashful kids. There were lots of good messages: 1) there’s nothing wrong with being shy as affirmed by the teacher, 2) play to your strengths (and everyone has them), 3) it can take time to warm up and that’s okay, 4) shy people often have to be brave! The bright watercolors do lovely justice to these baby dinosaurs. You just want to scoop them up and give them a hug.
Buy now*
The Best Seat In Kindergarten
Written by Katharine Kenah and Illustrated by Abby Carter
Recommended Ages: 5-6 years
One of the trickiest parts of starting school is wondering if and how you’ll make friends. For so many kids, no matter how outgoing or shy, this is one of those seeds of doubt that come with starting a new school year. I love this book for coming up with an easy, gentle way for kids to start building relationships with their peers. On a nature walk on the first day of school, Sam’s teacher encourages them to find something interesting and share it with the rest of the class once they get back. Sam helps his peers find the things they’re looking for and ends up empty-handed, or so it seems. This lovely series includes books about starting first grade and second grade too so if your kid enjoyed this one, consider getting the others as kids move up a grade.
Buy now*
P.S. For more books on making new friends, check out this post.
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
Written and Illustrated by Ryan T. Higgins
Recommended Ages: 4-7 years
It’s unfair to expect a baby T. Rex not to eat her human classmates. Like anybody, Penelope Rex is nervous about the first day of school. She wonders about her classmates and if she’ll make friends. So when she actually starts school imagine her surprise when she discovers her classmates are delicious human children! So, obviously, she eats them. Quickly, Penelope realizes this doesn’t make her popular and she begins to feel lonely when she doesn’t make any friends. This comical absurd story may not have a message, except perhaps don’t eat your peers, but it provides much-needed levity in the hubbub of back-to-school. The illustrations do an absolutely marvelous job of bringing visual hilarity to the already hilarious text. If you enjoy this one as much as I did, I encourage you to check out the other Penelope T. Rex books.
Buy now*
First Day Critter Jitters
Written by Jory John and Illustrated by Liz Climo
Recommended Ages: 4-8 years
From the first page, you will be smiling as you read this amusing Jory John book. The book layout feels like a comic strip with text bubbles and story panels filled with endearing characters. As critters prepare for their first day of school, they share their jitters. Things they’re nervous about. Readers will be able to empathize with many of them. When they all show up in the same classroom, they look around at each other nervously. As they get to know their teacher and one another they realize that they all have ways to help each other cope.
Buy now*
For kids with separation anxiety…
If your kid is having some separation anxiety, check out my list of favorite separation anxiety reads especially as it relates to school. Having said that, I loved this book for addressing an angle to separation anxiety that kids feel but isn’t commonly depicted:
Pirates Don’t Go To Kindergarten!
Written by Lisa Robinson and Illustrated by Eda Kaban
Recommended Ages:
When my kid moves up a class, there’s always that pang in my chest that the teachers who I’ve formed a bond with are no longer going to be my companions on this parenting journey. I imagine it’s ten times harder for kids. To have to leave behind a trusted adult and teacher is so difficult. This story does a lovely job, in a fun way, of highlighting this particular form of separation. Pirate Emma is unwilling to leave the side of Cap’n Chu, her fearless preschool leader. The Kindergarten spaceship is much too different from her beloved preschool pirate ship. Her teachers band together to help her navigate this change. I loved how spirited Emma is and how she really leans into the pirate theme with humorous results. The illustrations are absolutely lovely with wonderful details that make it fun to spend time really scouring through (I mean that bedroom of hers is booty-ful!).
Buy now*
There’s still time to participate in Week 5 of the Summer Reading Challenge!
Let’s talk…
Are you ready for kids heading back to school? We focus a lot on the kids here but tell me how are YOU doing?
Have you ever parented yourself? How did it happen and what did it look like? (Hopefully, there was no spanking involved 😂)
What tools have you seen to be helpful with your emotional regulation?
*Thank you for using (at no additional cost to you) the affiliate links in this post! :-)
Sri, I love when things are aligned! A quote I read this morning — “It is touching that we live in a world where we have learnt to be so kind to children. It would be even kinder if we learnt to be more generous towards the childlike parts of one another.”
You did that for yourself!! And I’m inspired!
Mr. S is just the cutest book! I love that you included early readers. We're well into our 3rd week of school already and I think it's going really well. Like Elizabeth, we've had some schedule changes this week due to the weather but we're rolling with the punches. The hardest part of the back to school routine has been dealing with some evening meltdowns. I try to recognize when my kids are feeling burnt out from school or getting tired for bed so we can provide opportunities for rest. Simplifying meal time has been very beneficial for me (mentally and budget) even though it's hard to let go of the way I'd like to cook.