It’s back to school time again! You’ve spent countless hours debating which schooling format is best for your family and now comes the part we all dread–preparing your kids to start school again. Adjusting their schedules to help them get back on a better sleep routine. Dwindling seven million snack times down to four million. Buying new notebooks and pencils at the store.
The excitement and anxiety that comes with starting a new school year is a familiar feeling for kids from preschool through their senior year. Reading about what to expect when they step back into a school mindset is a wonderful strategy to help kids cope with these feelings before the first day. Whether you’ve decided to send your kids in person, have them attend virtually, or homeschool, here are the best back to school books to read with your kids to set them up for a banner year of school!
Preschool
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
Butterflies on the First Day of School by Annie Silvestro
Brown Bear Starts School by Sue Tarsky
Clifford’s First School Day by Norman Bridwell
David Goes to School by David Shannon
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
Maisy Goes to Preschool by Lucy Collins
Mouse’s First Day of School by Lauren Thompson
My Preschool by Anne Rockwell
Sorry, Grownups, You Can’t Go to School by Christina Geist
The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
Kindergarten
A Letter From Your Teacher on the First Day of School by Shannon Olsen
Hello World! by Kelly Corrigan
If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick
The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! by Hyewon Yum
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by James Dean
Pirates Don’t Go to Kindergarten by Lisa Robinson
The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen
Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat! by Rob Scotton
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School by Mo Willems
Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
Elementary School
Back-to-School Rules by Laurie B. Friedman
Back to School with Bigfoot by Samantha Berger and Martha Brockenbrough
Harry Versus the First 100 Days of School by Emily Jenkins
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
The Exceptionally Extraordinarily Ordinary First Day of School by Albert Lorenz
First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
First Grade, Here I Come! by Tony Johnston
How Do Dinosaurs Go To School? by Jane Yolen
How to Get Your Teacher Ready by Jean Reagan
I Got the School Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison
If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen
It’s Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World by Ellen Jackson
Jake Starts School by Michael Wright
Keisha Ann Can! by Daniel Kirk
Miss Mingo and the First Day of School by Jamie Harper
Most Marshmallows by Rowboat Watkins
My Wild First Day of School by Dennis Mathew
Principal Tate Is Running Late! by Henry Cole
School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex
The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi
The Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler
This School Year Will Be the Best! by Kay Winters
Middle School
Amelia’s 7th-Grade Notebook by Marissa Moss
Counting by 7’s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja by Marcus Emerson
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Drama by Reina Telgemeier
Eighth-Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
I Funny: A Middle School Story by James Patterson
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Sixth Grade Nickname Game by Gordon Korman
Sixth Grade Really Can Kill You by Barthe DeClements
Smile by Raina Telgemeier
Space Station Seventh Grade by Jerry Spinelli
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Homeschooling
Charlie Goes to School by Ree Drummond
Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino
Greetings From Somewhere (series) by Harper Paris
I Am Learning All the Time by Rain Perry Fordyce
Ippie Unschooled by Nicole Olson
This is My Home, This is My School by Johnathan Bean
