Off to School
Books to read with children getting ready to start kindergarten
Picture Books
(Look for these books in the picture book section under the author's last name.)
| Author | Title |
| Aliki | Marianthe’s Story: Painted Words |
Mari starts school in a new land. |
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| Cazet, Denys | Born in the Gravy |
A Mexican-American girl tells her father all about her first day at kindergarten. |
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| Child, Lauren | I Am Too Absolutely Small for School |
| Lola is worried about going to school, but the presence of her imaginary friend, Loren Sorensen, convinces her that all will be well. | |
| Cohen, Miriam | Will I Have a Friend? |
Jim worries about finding a friend in school and spends the first day searching for one. |
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| Davis, Katie | Kindergarten Rocks! |
Dexter is not at all nervous about his first day of kindergarten. His stuffed dog Rufus, on the other hand, is very nervous. |
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| Dannenberg, Julie | First Day Jitters |
Sarah is afraid to start school, but she and the reader are in for a big surprise when she gets to class! |
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| Henkes, Kevin | Wemberly Worried |
| A young mouse who worries about everything faces a whole new set of worries when she starts school. | |
| Kleven, Elisa | The Apple Doll |
| Lizzy makes a doll out of an apple to keep her company on the first day of school. | |
| Millman, Isaac | Moses Goes to School |
Moses and his friends enjoy the first day at their school for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. |
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| Parr, Todd | Otto Goes to School |
Otto goes to school, where he makes friends and learns to wag his tail without knocking things over. |
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| Pattison, Darcy | 19 Girls and Me |
John Hercules is worried about being the only boy in his kindergarten class, but the girls match his sense of adventure. |
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| Robbins, Jacqui | The New Girl…and Me |
| Mia wants to make friends with the new girl in her class, but she is too shy to approach her. | |
| Roth, Carol | The Little School Bus |
A pig in a pink curly wig, a squirmy worm, and a sleepy sheep ride the bus to school with other equally descriptive animals. |
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| Rusackas, Francesca | I Love You All Day Long |
| No matter what Owen does throughout the day at school, his mother loves him while he’s doing it. | |
| Scotton, Rob | Splat the Cat |
| Splat finds his first day at cat school to be much better than expected. | |
| Slate, Joseph | Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten |
Miss Bindergarten and her animal students get ready for the first day of school in this humorous alphabet book. |
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| Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie | Elizabeti’s School |
Though she enjoys the first day of school, Elizabeti misses her family and wonders if it would’ve been better to stay home. |
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| Uegaki, Chieri | Suki’s Kimono |
| No matter what her parents say, Suki insists on wearing her blue kimono on the first day of school. | |
| Wells, Rosemary | My Kindergarten |
Miss Cribbage’s kindergarten class does something interesting every day of the school year. Each month covered gives parents and their kindergarteners a chance to explore science, language, art, geography, music and holidays. |
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| Wells, Rosemary | Yoko Writes Her Name |
Yoko, a kindergartener, not only can write her letters and numbers in English, but also shows her teacher and classmates how to write their names using Japanese calligraphy. |
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Readers(Look for these books in the Reader section by author's last name.) |
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| Author | Title |
| Corey, Shana | First Graders from Mars. Episode 1: Horus’s Horrible Day |
Horus the Martian gets off to a rocky start on his first day of school, but soon discovers that first grade is not as bad as he thought. |
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| Hoban, Lillian | Arthur’s Back to School Day |
| On the first day of school, Arthur and his friend unknowingly switch lunchboxes. | |
| O’Connor, Jane | Lulu Goes to Witch School |
| Lulu, nervous about starting school, dislikes one witch who is good at everything. | |
| Van Leeuwen, Jean | Amanda Pig, School Girl |
Amanda Pig’s first day of school lives up to her happy expectations. |
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Picture Books for Older Readers(Look for these books in the fiction collection.) |
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| Author | Title |
| Borden, Louise | Off to First Grade |
| Each member of a first grade class, plus the principal, a teacher and the bus driver, express nervousness, excitement or hope as they get ready for the first day of school. | |
| Talbert, Clifton L. | Little Cliff’s First Day of School |
| Little Cliff is terrified of starting school, but with Mama Pearl’s encouragement, he is able to overcome his fears. | |
Non-Fiction(Look for these books by call number in the nonfiction section.) |
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| Call Number | Author | Title |
| J 372 H838w | Howe, James | When You Go To Kindergarten |
| Photographs and text tell kids what to expect when they start kindergarten. | ||
J 372 J 133i |
Jackson, Ellen | It’s Back to School We Go! First Day Stories From Around the World |
| Fictional children from countries such as Kenya, Japan, Kazakhstan, and India talk about what it’s like to go to school in their country. | ||
Want to get your hands on one of these books? Check the Berkeley Public Library catalog to see where you can get a copy!
