It’s back to school for all public school students in Chicago tomorrow! This school year will be absolutely different from any other, and my oldest kid is not excited about virtual learning. We needed some new back-to-school books to create some hype and some confidence. The books below are our favorites for this year!
Supriya Kellkar and Alea Marley’s The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh so beautifully tells a story of a kid, Harpreet, who wears a patka and uses the colors of his patka to represent how he is feeling. When he moves to a new town, he wears white every day, trying to be invisible. When he makes a new friend he starts to feel more comfortable being seen and returns to wearing his colorful patka.
I Got the School Spirit by Connie Schofield-Morrison and illustrated by Frank Morrison made us feel so proud and happy! In it the central character goes through her first day at school feeling confident, helping her friends, and enjoying the day! We were able to identify parts of this kid’s day that may be similar in classes this year- meeting new friends, listening to the teacher read stories, and feeling good about our hard work.
Your Name is a Song is a stunningly illustrated and gorgeously written book about the impact of not saying- and valuing- how to pronounce names. In it, the main character is frustrated that her teacher can’t say her name correctly, and her mom gives her advice about how to respond, repeatedly valuing the musicality of the unique names the kid knows.
Kwame Alexander and illustrator Melissa Sweet took my breath away with this stunning book. How to Read a Book is clever and quiet and also bright and impactful. It describes all the magic of reading in gorgeous colors and powerfully subtle language. It is perfect for my older kid who doesn’t love reading herself but does love being read to. She was hesitant reading the title but drawn in by the first page and the colorful, creatively displayed pages.
My younger kid is going back to daycare a few days per week starting this week, and she’s feeling nervous. She hasn’t been to daycare since March, and she is moving to the pre-school room. We picked up this book to read to help ease her nerves. In it, Lola starts preschool, and has a great time meeting friends and learning with her teachers. I especially appreciated the getting-ready-for-school parts, since we have let that go quite a bit since the pandemic started!
If you’ve been here for a minute, you know of my deep love for Mo Willems. Of course we read The Pigeon HAS to go to School this week for both of my kids. In this, the slightly-neurotic pigeon is really worried about everything related to school. When pigeon realizes that school is for learning and playing, he feels much better. When he realizes that he can take a BUS to school, he is over the moon!