Back to School: For My Son

 

My son is starting first grade this year, so in addition to reading him all these books I'm sharing with you, I wanted to find some just for him, and some he could possibly read by himself.

On the First Day of First Grade by Tish Rabe, illustrated by Sarah Jennings, is a fun book set to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. It goes over things students do during the first twelve days of first grade. Since we'll be doing remote learning from home for at least the first semester, I loved reading this book to my son to help explain how things will be different. Even if he was going to school in person, he wouldn't be doing the exact same things the first graders in this book were doing, so it was a jumping off point for a conversation about how the school year will be different than we expected, but also how school is different for everyone, everywhere - and I think that helped soften the blow of why his first grade year will be somewhat strange.

*Last year his special book was The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton.

Dragons from Mars Go to School by Deborah Aronson, illustrated by Colin Jack, was the perfect book because my kid is hooked on dragons right now! It was just silly enough to be a fun read, while still teaching some lessons about being kind of new students and friends alike. The rhymes made it really run to read aloud, and it's been on repeat for several bedtime routines now!

School of Fish by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mike Moran, is, of course, the book I want my son to read aloud. It's a level one Ready to Read book, so it's just right for his age. It's a great book to instill confidence in younger students - both with their reading progress AND going back to school! There are mantras in the book like "I'm slick. I'm cool. I'm ready for school." that are fun and empowering for your student to say. There is also a great way about calming and centering yourself and counting to ten.

The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Dan Hanna is one we have to read every year. We discovered Pout-Pout Fish when my son was about six months old, and we've loved every book since! His school book is especially fun because it has a signature Pout-Pout rhyme that kids will start saying along with you after they hear it a couple times! It's a great book about understanding where you are now and how you will learn and grow in time.

Back to School: For Younger Readers

Younger kids can be scared about starting school, too! They might be going to daycare or preschool for the first time, and it can be scary and unfamiliar, especially if they're used to being home or with family. Here are some great books I've found for younger readers, specifically toddler to pre-kindergarten, but of course I think that these books are fun (and can be adapted) for kids of any age! 

It's Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer, illustrated by Claire Messer, is about Busy Bus being nervous as he prepares for his first day of school. This book gives great opportunities for physical engagement and movement, which is so important for younger readers! When Busy Bus tries out his new stop sign, wipers, and horn, I use some of the motions from Wheels on the Bus. It helps those younger kids (potentially unfamiliar with school, and almost always not fans of sitting still!) really engage with and stay interested in the story.

Choo-Choo School by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Mike Yamada, is a fun rhyming book about seven train cars going to school. The illustrations are bright and engaging, and what the trains learn are great jumping off points to relate back to the young students' new classroom rules and lessons. For example, the trains learn the classroom rules, how to be kind, how to count, and more. 

So Big! by Mike Wohnoutka is a great book to use to talk about what's happening in the story and what emotions the characters are feeling. There are very few words - mostly just "so big" used in different ways to portray how Bear feels, or how the school looks to him. This is a book that can get readers involved in telling the story by asking them what they see on each page, how that makes Bear feel, how they feel, and more.

Bear's Big Day by Salina Yoon is a a sweet book about how young kids don't need to feel like they have to be "big" when they start school. Bear misses his stuffed bunny, Floppy, but thinks he's too big to take a stuffed animal to school. He feels alone and doesn't engage in any of the classroom activities because he misses Floppy too much. Bear talks to his teacher and together they work out the perfect solution! This is a nice jumping off point to ask students about stuffed animals or comfort objects they have at home (or at school, if they are allowed to bring them for nap). Salina Yoon's books are always adorably illustrated, too, though I'm slightly biased because she is one of the first authors my son would request when he was just learning to speak!

Back to School: Round Two

I'm back with more back to school books to share with a variety of ages! Starting tomorrow, my back to school book posts will have more specific scopes, but for now, I hope you enjoy the random round-up!

Tool School by Joan Holub, pictures by James Dean (creator of Pete the Cat!), is a fun rhyming book about an assortment of tools going to school (on the TOOL BUS, hah!). They learn the rules before they're free to start their own project, but quickly learn that their strengths aren't that great all on their own - they have to work together! It's a fun book to read aloud, but also teaches a lesson about collaboration and respecting differences in those around you. 

First Day Critter Jitters by Jory John, illustrated by Liz Climo, is a cute book about different animals nervous about the first day of school for various reasons. Once the animals find out that their teacher is also nervous, everyone starts to feel better and comes together to work as a team. By the end of the day, they realize their worries weren't really anything to worry about! This would be a fun book to talk about with students as you read it - have them identify the animal, share what they know about the animal, and try to relate that to what the animal might be nervous about - THEN read the page and see if you were right!

Chicken in School by Adam Lehrhaupt, illustrated by Shahar Kober, follows Zoey, an adventurous chicken, as she creates a school for her friend Sam the pig. Zoey invites all the farm animals to come to school, and what they learn, and how, is so much fun to see! Children will love getting a peek into this silly school that is so different from their own. The way Zoey presents books as for "building imagination" and crayons as for "creating adventures" will spawn a lot of extension activities for students too, depending on if you're in the library, classroom, or MakerSpace/STEM lab.

Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Will Terry, is a story about Bonaparte, a skeleton so worried about starting school that he keeps losing his bones! His monster friends try to find solutions that will keep Bonaparte together, but nothing seems to work! This book is a great jumping off point for finding solutions that might help keep a skeleton together, especially after talking over what is tried in the book and shown in the illustrations.

Back to School: Round One

Going back to school will look different for everyone this year. Some schools pushed back the start date, some are doing hybrid schedules, some are fully remote. But the best thing about back to school books is that they're all different, none of them looked exactly like your school day even in the best of times, so there's no need to skimp on these great books this August (or September, or via Zoom, or whatever)!

I think reading back to school books will still help put students at ease because they're a good way to let kids know they're not weird to be nervous, anxious, or scared to start school. This year these books can be a great way to compare and contrast what different school days look like, talk about how your school days will look, and try to normalize that type of anxiety, also.

Hello School! by Priscilla Burris is a book told in short sentences and dialogue, making it a great book to start the year with. It gives you jumping off points to go over your own school and classroom rules. In fact, you could read the book as-is, and then go over your specific rules in the same way - by giving the rules and letting students speak up and share thoughts or examples, as they do in the story.

Butterflies on the First Day of School by Annie Silvestro, illustrated by Dream Chen, is a beautiful book about Rosie, a girl so excited to start school that she practices how she will act before the day comes. The morning of her first day of school, Rosie feels sick, and doesn't want to go to school anymore. Her mother assures Rosie that it's just butterflies in her belly, so Rosie gets on the school bus. Soon a girl sits next to her and starts talking, and when Rosie introduces herself, she's surprised to see butterflies escape from her mouth! This happens throughout the day, and when Rosie sees it happen to another girl, she knows just how to reassure her new friend. This is a fun way to talk about being nervous for the first day of school, but could also branch into a brief lesson about figurative language, depending on the age of your students.

The Class by Boni Ashburn and Kimberly Gee follows twenty children on their first morning of school. It shows how different everyone is, from how they get dressed to what they eat for breakfast. They all come together in their classroom, and this is a great jumping off point to let students talk about their first morning of school. Learning how different everyone's lives are at home can help these students practice empathy and understanding, as well as get to know their new classmates.

A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices by Sally Derby, illustrated by Mika Song, is like a version of The Class for older students. The six voices are students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and their stories are told in poems about The Night Before, In the Morning, At School, and After School. The characters are diverse and have different living situations, so this is another great book for students to read to hit home the point that everyone is different, and you should be kind and understanding to them. I like making copies of the poems and asking students to read them aloud. This can work in different ways - having students read one character's poems aloud in chronological order, or having students read the points of view of all different students according to each time frame. (I used it in different ways last year and had great results!)

NAT ENOUGH by Maria Scrivan

Thanks to the KidLitExchange network and Scholastic for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own. Nat Enough by Maria Scrivan releases on April 7, 2020.

This graphic novel is about Natalie, who starts middle school to find her best friend has dumped her to be part of the popular crowd. Natalie tries to get Lily back, but while trying, she meets new classmates who show her she might not have been experiencing friendship before. Natalie has a lot to learn about being herself and finding true friends.

This book reminded me of Terri Libenson books, and also maybe a bit of the comic strip Luann? Something about the cat and dog jokes on the new chapter pages made me think of comic strips, but I liked it, and that humor and style definitely worked for this book. I can’t wait to get a copy for the school library - these kids LOVE graphic novels, and when these characters go through the same problems the students face, those books don’t stay on the shelf. I think this will be a hit.

Back to School in Verse

Last week I shared some of the back to school books I read with young students. This week, I'm going to share one book I was able to read with multiple grades.

A New School Year: Stories in Six Voices 

by Sally Derby, illustrated by Mika Song

This book of poetry features diverse children starting kindergarten, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grades. Each student has a poem from the Night Before, In the Morning, At School, and After School. Students have different living situations, different ethnicities, and different abilities and talents. I made copies of the poems and had students in each grade read them aloud. 

For one Lower Elementary library class, I have a mix of first and second graders. After first graders read the poems, they shared words that described their night before and first day of school. Some second graders even chimed in with how they remember feeling the year before. The other Lower Elementary class has a mix of second and third grade students. It was interesting to hear their reactions to poems about students in other grades, in other schools (fictional, yes, but still relevant). It was wonderful to see how they could relate to these characters.

One Upper Elementary class has fourth and fifth graders, so we finished up the book with those poems, and then they wrote their own. For the group of 6th and 7th graders, I found an assortment of poems online. Several were about starting school and the end of summer, so we took turns reading those aloud before they wrote their own. A bonus pack of poems was about growth mindset, dreams, and pushing yourself to see what you could accomplish. These were read aloud and then also used as jumping off points for their own poems. I was so impressed at the variety of poetry style and the depth of emotion these students shared!

Back to School Books

It's back to school season, and we've actually been in session for four weeks now! I started library classes by reading several different back to school books to students aging from 18 months to 5th grade.

The biggest hit this year was We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. Toddlers, Early Childhood, and Kindergarten students all loved the silliness of this one. It naturally lends itself to discussing how to make friends, be kind, and consider others' feelings, so it's not only a great read-aloud, but also a great jumping off point for lessons that need to be gone over at the beginning of the year.

School's First Day of School, written by Adam Rex and illustrated by Christian Robinson, was a close second. I read this one to Early Childhood last year so some students remembered it, but you can never read a great book too many times. This book also led to some great conversations about others' feelings - the concept of a school building being nervous is silly, of course, but it loosened students up and helped them think about how others might feel even if you don't know them well or don't think they would feel certain ways based on their actions.

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Judy Love, is actually the first book I read to the Early Childhood classes. The twist ending is delightful for both students and teachers, so it was fun to have a teacher in the library (as they are for the first session) to enjoy this book and help the students realize that the twist ending is actually true!

Back to School with Bigfoot by Samantha Berger and Martha Brockenbrough, illustrated by Dave Pressler, was a silly read-aloud. I used this one to talk about how students got ready for the first day of school, but mostly we inspected each page of illustration. This book is vibrant and gorgeous, and there are a lot of hidden gems in the pictures that are worth taking a closer look.

For toddlers alone, we enjoyed It's Your First Day of School, Busy Bus! by Jody Jensen Shaffer, illustrated by Claire Messer. The story is about Busy Bus being nervous as he prepares for his first day of school, but on a simpler level than some of those I read the older students. This book also gives the opportunity for some engagement and movement, for example when Busy Bus tries out his new stop sign, wipers, and horn. I used some of the motions from Wheels on the Bus for those parts.

The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems was, obviously, another hit. Everyone loves the Pigeon, and the endpapers provide a great discussion beyond the book. The front endpapers show empty desks, and the back endpapers have birds sitting in each desk. You can ask students to find each bird (such as an owl, toucan, etc), or have them point to and name each bird.

The King of Kindergarten

Plot Summary

Today's a big day - the first day of kindergarten! The story is told in second person, with "you" being the little boy starting school. He wakes up, gets ready, has breakfast, and is encouraged by his parents to be kind and strong. He goes through the routine of the school day, which is brand new and exciting to him, such as "the never-ending mystery of numbers". Everything is (appropriately) described in terms of royalty, from the school bus being a "big yellow carriage" to sitting at "your round table". 

Critical Analysis

The illustrations in the book are colorful, vibrant, and convey the excitement of the text. The royalty humor will appeal to adults as much as to children, who so often love imagination play and making grand pronouncements about their everyday tasks. The words have great rhythm in their simplicity; they explain the first day of kindergarten with concise happiness. The children and adults in this book are realistically diverse.

Personal Response

Today is my son's first day of kindergarten, so I love the timing of this book's release! We went to see author Derrick Barnes at a local bookstore a week ago, and it was fantastic to hear him read his own work. He also talked extensively and candidly about his writing life. He was also very open about his family, as this book is based on and dedicated to his youngest son. (Crown was also written about and for an older son.) I love the language used in this book because my son definitely repeats new words he learns, and there are very vivid, descriptive words for him to integrate into his vocabulary.

Reviews and Awards

From Publisher's Weekly: "When a mother gives her son the titular nickname, it inspires him throughout his first day of school—the child imagines that a chalk-drawn crown is sitting on his head as he walks through the 'towering doors' of the 'grand fortress' and into his 'Kindergarten Kingdom.'"

     Kirkus Reviews notes, "The playful illustrations use texture and shadow to great effect, with vibrant colors and dynamic shapes and lines sustaining readers’ interest on every page. Text and visuals work together beautifully to generate excitement and confidence in children getting ready to enter kindergarten."

Connections and Activities

At the book signing, we were given promotional crowns, as seen in the top picture. A fun craft would be for new kindergartners to decorate their own crowns. You could start from scratch with white paper and colors, or use gold paper and have them add stickers and jewels.

Kindergartners can also talk about their own first day, or if they haven't started yet, they can talk about their expectations and how they imagine their days might go. This activity can be continued on paper, with students drawing themselves as kindergarten royalty, their school as a castle, their own personal carriage, etc.

Read it for yourself!

Barnes, Derrick. 2019. The King of Kindergarten. Ill. by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books.

This Is Where It Ends

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp is a book about a school shooting. It seems like I've been reading a lot of school shooting books lately... I won't say it's a trend, the way vampires were and zombies are, but I've been reading about it frequently. I like it, though, because there are so many different ways to portray it: from the victim's point of view; from a bystander's point of view; from the shooter's point of view, or all of the above. Plus more.

Nijkamp tells the story from the points of view of four different students. They share flashbacks about how they know the shooter, what their relationships were like, how they changed, and why they think this event is occurring. There is the girl who used to date the shooter, the girl who was bullied by him, the bullied girl's twin brother, and the sister of the victim. The way they relate to the shooter, both in flashbacks and during the action, is very emotional.

The action takes place in about an hour, starting with a high school assembly. This tight time frame really builds the suspense, especially with four narrators in different areas of the school.

For how well the four narrators are developed, the shooter is a flat character. I would have loved to have him as a narrator, to find out why he flipped and decided to shoot up the school. The way he was portrayed was pretty stereotypical, so that aspect of the book was a little disappointing. It's still an interesting, emotional read, if you're in the mood for such realistic fiction.

Other books about school shootings I've read recently include: Violent Ends edited by Shaun David Hutchinson, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, Diary of a Witness by Catherine Ryan Hyde, Damage Done by Amanda Panitch, and The Light Fantastic by Sarah Combs (reviewed for Cleaver Magazine).

Book Clubs During School Hours for Students with Disabilities

While trying to get an overview of library services offered in my area, I spoke with a high school librarian who brought up an idea that seemed revolutionary to me. The librarian had previously been a special education teacher, so she purposely made her library services welcoming to this population.

Because of her background, the librarian reached out to the current English teachers to form a book club for students with disabilities. She wanted to hold a weekly book club in the library during English class. Holding programs during school hours can be difficult, because there is already so much to do during a school day. But it increases participation, since many students ride the bus or have other after-school obligations, and often can’t stay late.

Read the full post on YALSAblog and share your thoughts!