As school starts across America books about school are a great way to begin a new year with kids of all ages. In the past we’ve shared many books about school. This list is aimed towards older elementary students, grades 2 through 5, but the books can be used with all grades. As you are thinking and talking about school consider one of these books as a resource for the first week of school or to help transition your student back into school.
Books About School
More Resources for Little Book Lovers
The best way to encourage a love of reading is to provide kids with many opportunities to engage with a wide variety of books that are of interest to them. That’s why we share so many books lists on Fantastic Fun and Learning. We want to make it easy for you to find great books your kids will love. Over the years we’ve also discovered some helpful tools for connecting kids and books.
Digital libraries are one very handy way to do this. Epic! is one of our favorite online libraries. It’s full of over 25,000 books, learning videos, quizzes and more for kids 12 and under…and it’s free for educators. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Book Boxes are another fun way to get kids excited about reading. What kid doesn’t love to get a special delivery in the mail?! The crew over at Bookroo finds the best little known books that you won’t already have in your library, and they send them to you each month. Take a peak inside a Bookroo Box here.
Book-Based Activities are also a lot of fun for kids. Jodie over at Growing Book by Book has saved us all a ton of time and created a full year of Book-Based Activity Calendars so that you can extend the fun with a special book each week.
Books about School
That Book Woman by Heather Henson – That Book Woman is a fictional story that ties in historical events. In the 1930’s female librarians rode on horse back through the Appalachian Mountains as a traveling library providing books to families. This story is about a boy that does not understand why “that book woman” keeps coming by, Cal does not read or have any interest to read. However, during winter he sees the power of a book while watching his sister learn to read and watching “that book woman” fight through a snow storm to bring new books. I love how the book shows that kids do not always have books and how special books can be.
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! by Dr Seuss – Hooray for Diffendoofer is a school book like no other, written by Dr. Seuss, an author like no other. Diffendoofer School teaches subjects such as listening, smelling and yelling but when the BIG test comes everyone is a worried and stressed except for Miss Bonkers. Miss Bonkers saves the day and reminders everyone that if you work hard and do your best, you can forget the rest. This is a great book to read at the beginning of the year and/or before a big test.
Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest – Mr. George Baker is a wonderful story about a little boy named Henry and his 100-year-old neighbor, Mr. George. The story is told from Henry’s perspective as the two wait for the school bus. We learn in the book that both Henry and Mr. George are going to school to learn how to read, which is such a powerful message. I love the poetic descriptions in this book and the awesome message that you are never too old to learn.
More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby – More Than Anything Else is a fictional story of Booker T. Washington as a boy. In the story a young Washington has a hunger to read, when his mother gives him an alphabet book the door to reading is opened to him. This is a great story for older kids to show how important and hard it was and is for some people to have an opportunity to learn. We are blessed to live in a time when education is free and available to everyone in your country.
Thank You, Mr. Falkner by Patricia Polacco – Thank You, Mr. Falkner is written by Patricia Polacco as a tribute to a special teacher that changed her life. As a child Tricia could not read and was made fun of by the other students. When she reached 5th grade Mr. Falkner worked with Tricia and helped her see that she could and would read. As a teacher I love this story and seeing how one teachers passion and encouragement changed a student’s life.
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi – The Name Jar tells a beautiful story of girl that has just moved from Korea to America. Her name is Unhei, pronounced Yoon-hey, everyone has a hard time with her name and so Unhei decides to pick a new name. Throughout the book her classmates try to help her find a new name but in the end she learns that she already has a name that is uniquely hers. I love this story because it teaches a great lesson about loving who your are and welcoming others that might be new to school.
The Royal Bee by Frances and Ginger Park – The Royal Bee is a true story of a boy names, Song-Ho. Song-Ho is a poor boy that lives in Korea and longs to go to school. Unfortunately, only the wealthy are able to send their children to school, Song-Ho decides to try and listen in on lessons since he is not allowed to go into the class. This story has a wonderful lesson in perseverance and determination, a great read.
The Story Of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles – The Story of Ruby Bridges tells the courageous true story of an American-American little girl that went to all white school in the 1960’s. The book looks at the thoughts of people that were close to Ruby Bridges and reminds us that we must all be courageous no matter what we are up against.
Rain School by James Rumford – In Rain School we learn about how students in Chad build their own school each year from sticks and mud. This gives students a glimpse into school in another country and how each school is. There are no bells, buildings, cafeteria, just a simple hunt made of mud and straw.
First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg – First Day Jitters is a fun book that is great to read on the first day of school. I love this book because the main character’s name is Sarah, like me J, and because as it turns out (SPOILER ALERT) she is the teacher not a student, like me J. This story gives students the chance to see that they are not the only ones with first day jitters.
Leave a Reply