Books to Help with Kindergarten Jitters

Photo by Gautam Arora on Unsplash

Once the calendar flips to August, heads start turning away from summer and towards the start of the school year, especially for those starting kindergarten. The first day nerves can be overwhelming for some kids (and their parents!). Dena McMurdie says, in an article for readybrightly.com that, "I've sent two kids off to kindergarten and it broke my heart both times. They looked so small and uncertain on those first few days of school." While we know these feelings are to be expected, anything we can do to help families be prepared for these first days is a good thing. 

McMurdie recommends picture books to help get kids ready for that big step, including Kitty Vs. Kindergarten by Martha Freeman, Getting Ready for Kindergarten by Vera Ahiyya, and The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes. To see the full list checkout the article here.

[The First Day and Beyond: Books About Kindergarten for Kids. McMurdie, Dena. Readbrightly.com. 2025.] https://www.readbrightly.com/books-about-kindergarten/

Time for Back-to-School!

Hard on the heels of celebrating ends to successful summer library programs comes time to plan for service to kids and teachers returning to school.

Two recent ALSC blog posts share some lovely ideas on service and book displays to spark your thinking, your outreach and your inclusive collection development.

The first blog post from Maria Trivisanno explores creative ideas to connect back to your schools through outreach. Read it here. [Back to School Outreach. Trivisonna, Maria. ALSC blog. August 10, 2022.]

The second post is from everyone's favorite collection development librarian, Abby the Librarian.  She shares a great group of inclusive back-to-school books to expand your collection and your displays during this busy run-up to the first day of school. Read it here. [Inclusive Back to School Books. Johnson, Abby. ALSC blog. August 12, 2022]

Book Riot's 8 Back-to-School Picture Books for Teaching Coronavirus Procedures

With the new school year fast approaching and COVID-19 still looming, individuals of all ages are feeling the pressure of the unknown.  The choice is a difficult one across the board, to put it mildly...

Recently, a preschool teacher named Katherine Willoughby created a list of books she plans to utilize in her classroom when the school year begins and she generously shared it with the good folks at Book Riot: 8 Back-to-School Picture Books for Teaching Coronavirus Procedures. 

While only one of the books on the list was written specifically during the time of COVID-19--Why Is Everyone Wearing a Mask? written and illustrated by Debbie Qiu, which is written in both English and Portuguese!--Ms. Willoughby includes books that discuss social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing, including her reasoning behind choosing that specific book or the lesson she plans to help her students learn after hearing the story.

See all her recommendations and the reasoning behind them HERE.

What else would you add to the list?  Or perhaps you've already made a pandemic/COVID booklist?  Tell us in the comments!

For more information and resources on resources for kids/families, please see earlier posts in our 

Kids Resources YSS blog COVID-19 series:

Booksto Help Kids Cope with COVID Changes    11/22/20

Back to School Picture Books for Teaching Coronavirus Procedures 8/11/20

ALSC’s #Looktolibraries Resources 8/4/20

Curated List of Free COVID-19 EBooks for Kids 4/27/20

Infographic to Help Parents with Tech Time During COVID-19 4/2/20

Tips on Safe and Inclusive Gaming/Livestreaming for Families 4/6/20

Talking to Kids About COVID-19  3/28/20

Ear Ticklin’ Listening/Viewing for Kids at Home 3/30/20