As kids embark on a new academic year, we’ve compiled a list of some back-to-school stories—including picture books to help ease those first-day jitters and novels set in schools both magical and realistic.
Picture Books
Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Nabila Adani. Carolrhoda, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-72842-338-8. Ages 4–9.
Beginning with a Rumi quote—“Love is the bridge between you and everything”—previous collaborators Latham and Waters reteam for this rhyming exploration of how children can learn to be a “bridge,” building key connections through kindness. The authors describe various ways to exhibit kindness, connection, and respect throughout the school day, which include inviting kids to play, calling out classmates for unkind acts, empathizing, and listening.
KINDergarten: Where Kindness Matters Every Day
Vera Ahiyya, illus. by Joey Chou. Random House Studio, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-48462-3. Ages 4–8.
Teacher and social media influencer Ahiyya tunes into her upbeat, proactively compassionate vibe in this story of an introverted kindergartner tenderly guided through an uncertain first day by a teacher devoted to the power of kindness. A diverse class of children engages in lively discussions as they tour the school, head outdoors for recess, and draw pictures in Chou’s energetic scenes, digitally painted in vivid hues. The book received a starred review from PW.
Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective
Elizabeth Olsen and Robbie Arnett, illus. by Marissa Valdez. Viking, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-35144-4. Ages 4–8.
Actor Olsen and musician Arnett, this picture book’s married authorial team, introduce mindfulness practices for coping with classroom-related jitters via this series-launching adventure. Hattie, portrayed as a striped orange feline, is known to have “many tools up her sleeve,” plus a “trusty Worry Detective Tool Belt,” to help her friends solve their worries. And on the first day of school at Wildwood Elementary, she’s working at full tilt.
Erin Guendelsberger, illus. by Suzie Mason. Sourcebooks Wonderland, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-72825-799-0. Ages 4–7.
Guendelsberger follows Little Red Sleigh with another colorful mode of transportation in this slow-moving tale of a novice school bus. Though Yellow has trained hard for his solo voyage, on the first day of school, “his belly ached./ His wheels felt out of balance.” In a series of earnest exchanges with his reassuring parents, Yellow engages in tactics to put off departure (“My tires feel low on air”), then imagines nightmare scenarios.
Joshua David Stein, illus. by Jing Li. Rise x Penguin Workshop, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5933-8445-9. Ages 3–6.
The contributors credited in this picture book are all professional chefs, but they were also once kids encountering peers—and the “lunchbox moment”—when each brought their family’s culture to school in the form of packed lunches. These meals are lovingly described by Stein and depicted in vibrant color by Li in this epicurean picture book. Stung by “weird,” “stinky,” and other judgmental words, the children briefly insist that their families provide only “regular sandwiches” going forward. But monotony, combined with burgeoning identities nurtured in the family kitchen, creates an unstoppable force: the kids not only choose their favorite foods, they become passionate advocates for culinary inclusion, too.
e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Pat Zietlow Miller, illus. by Joe Cepeda. Candlewick, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-0954-9. Ages 3–7.
Drummer Lupe Lopez, a “real-life, Texas-size rock star,” has a rebellious, big-ego persona—and discovers on the first day of kindergarten that it’s the complete opposite of what classroom life requires. Employing Spanish words and onomatopoeia, and Cepeda’s sunshine-bright cartoons, this story assures even the most exuberant kid that they can master the big social-emotional task of kindergarten: holding onto individuality while becoming part of a community.
Josh Lieb, illus. by Hannah Marks. Razorbill, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-9848-3551-2. Ages 4–8.
“Anything could happen on the bus,” promises narrator Angelique at the start of this transportation-centered picture book, and the story delivers, mixing up “The Wheels on the Bus.” Lieb employs the song’s familiar cadences alongside a series of mural-like cutaway spreads by Marks. After the titular pink, furry monster eats the bus driver and takes their place, an evil scientist and other improbable passengers appear for a mayhem-filled journey en route to school.
Bethany V. Freitas, illus. by Maddie Frost. Clarion, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-358-45025-2. Ages 3–7.
If at first you don’t succeed, let your growth mindset kick in, communicates this picture book. Armed with his unicorn backpack and lunch box, plus red sneakers and a good-luck hug, Yeti feels ready to seize the first day of school. He makes friends and tries new things, but when a name-writing worksheet and feeding the classroom fish prove a bridge too far, Yeti grows frustrated. Fortunately, an encouraging teacher and supportive human classmates are on hand to cheer Yeti’s efforts when he tries again.
Drew Brockington. Abrams, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-5191-2. Ages 4–8.
A story that’s got all the markers of a classic anxiety dream becomes an amusing balm for hesitant school-goers in Brockington’s deftly comic picture book. The protagonist isn’t thrilled about starting at a brand-new school: “The teachers will be different. I’ll have to make all new friends. I won’t even know where the bathroom is.” But these worries end up constituting a massive understatement: having somehow boarded the bus to Leroy’s Puppy School, endearingly goofy cartooning reveals, the child is the only human on the premises.
The Queen of Kindergarten
Derrick Barnes, illus. by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Penguin/Paulsen, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-5931-1142-0. Ages 3–5.
In The Queen of Kindergarten, Barnes returns to the first day of school in this follow-up to his bestselling picture book, The King of Kindergarten, both illustrated by long-time collaborator Brantley-Newton. Here, a Black girl faces her first day in kindergarten with all the excitement and poise of a queen. See our q&a with Barnes.
Ellie Peterson. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-250-84524-5. Ages 6–8.
From the “brick building with big doors and rectangle windows” where they attend school most days, a bespectacled child with light brown skin wonders, “Where else is school?” Contemplating various types of learning, the narrator mulls over whether school can be found in visits to the zoo or a museum, on hikes with Mom, Nana’s kitchen, or even “when I’m learning things all by myself.” Author-illustrator Peterson, a former teacher, indicates an affirmative answer to these questions, and many more.
VIP: Very Important Preschooler
Cindy Jin, illus. by Ella Bailey. Little Simon, $7.99 (16p) ISBN 978-1-66591-757-5. Ages 1–5.
What’s it take to be a VIP—a “Very Important Preschooler”? Five enthusiastic classmates, including kids of varying abilities and skin tones, run through the basics in Jin’s rhyming text, each explaining key responsibilities they carry out on a given weekday. Though there are no velvet ropes for this VIP crowd, amid scenes dotted with student artwork and toys, the board book’s inclusive message stresses “we play, we laugh, and we work together,” insisting that “we’re all VIPs in more ways than one.”
Novels
Attack of the Black Rectangles
Amy Sarig King. Scholastic Press, $18.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-338-68052-2. Ages 9–12.
Pennsylvania sixth graders battle classroom censorship in this uplifting middle grade novel by King. At Independence Elementary, Mac Delaney and his friends Denis, who’s loyal and has anxiety, and Marci, an outspoken feminist, are outraged to discover that someone has used “ugly black rectangle[s]” to expurgate classroom copies of Jane Yolen’s historical novel The Devil’s Arithmetic. King tackles the intersections of multiple sensitive topics while educating readers on the power of protest and the benefits of living with grace.
Hither & Nigh (Hither & Nigh #1)
Ellen Potter. McElderry, $18.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-6659-1038-5. Ages 8–12.
Three years after Nell Batista’s brother, River, vanished, skipping class to hustle chess players lands seventh grader Nell in the Last Chance Club, an after-school program. She’s there alongside three eighth graders: beautiful bully Annika Rapp, once friend to River; cute new boy Tom Gunnerson, a rich kid in for stealing; and hulking Crud, who is rumored to be violent. Instead of doing community service, they’re supposed to “perform miracles, help avert disasters, et cetera” by learning magic from mysterious Mr. Boot.
Misty Wilson, illus. by David Wilson. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $22.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-306468-3. Ages 8–12.
Seventh grader Misty tackles middle school politics on and off the football field in the Wilsons’ debut, a heartening graphic memoir by a husband-and-wife duo. Despite her stepdad and coach’s support, Misty is discouraged by the hostility she receives from boys who resent having a girl on their football team. Hoping to alleviate rumors and mitigate bullying, Misty experiments with a more traditionally feminine gender expression. As Misty juggles school and friendship drama, and hones her football skills, her sense of self takes shape.
Tiffany D. Jackson. HarperCollins/Tegen, $18.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06302914-9. Ages 14 and up.
Jackson explores internalized and externalized anti-Blackness in this striking horror novel, which channels Stephen King’s Carrie. Though Springfield, Ga., high school senior Maddy Washington is biracial (Black and white), her emotionally and physically abusive racist white father forces her to live as white. To keep up the charade, Maddy must never publicly wet her weekly hot combed hair. When a sudden storm in the middle of gym class unveils Maddy’s natural hair texture, though, her white classmates taunt her for it. As the bullying worsens, Maddy’s rightful rage culminates in deadly consequences. The book received a starred review from PW.
You Only Live Once, David Bravo
Mark Oshiro. HarperCollins, $16.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-300815-1. Ages 8–12.
In California, an 11-year-old given the chance for a redo makes mistakes over—and over—again in a joyful novel with a pick-your-path vibe. For David Bravo, a transracial adoptee of Latinx descent, the first week of middle school is riddled with mistakes and disappointments. The solution to his do-over desires shows up at his back door: a magical hairless hound, Fea, who communicates telepathically and can send him into the body of his past self.
