Back-to-School Books

Are you getting your youngster ready for a school year?   These are a number of books that are about school that my kids have fallen in love with.   This year we will have one semi-kindergartner, two preschoolers and a rolly-polly infant.   They have all missed our daily blog fodder “school time” each morning and are looking forward to the fall.   In two of these books, they discuss the first day of school, all the newness and silliness of a strange routine and new place!   Thank you to Abrams Books for sending us these, and a few other books, for us to enjoy!   Check them out for more fun reading! . The first book is, Dotty, by Erica S. Perl.   It is about a gal who brings “Dotty” her invisible horned friend with her to school.   My daughter has imaginary friends (and actually an imaginary house where she claims to live part-time) so she can really relate with Ida, the girl in the story.   I love how this book talks about reality and imagination, encourages children to apologize for wrong actions, and celebrates creativity and active imaginations.   This book is great for those pre-school jitters, I love how warm Ida’s teacher, Ms. Raymond, is in this story! . My son loves the second book we got to review today!   He loves facts and vivid pictures (and could do without story plot most of the time).     The book, The Exceptionally, Extraordinarily Ordinary First Day of School, by Albert Lorenz, is hilarious – it definitely speaks to little boys.   It features wild creatures that welcome, John (the main character), to the school bus where they drive to the “castle” (aka school), he carries a lizard and steps on frogs in science class, gets to meet several historical characters, eats insects for lunch in the cafeteria, and more.   Quirky Kiddo Z loved all the detail (and trying to find the kid hiding on each page picking his nose).   I loved the facts in the sidebar.   This book was one of the more educational and yet incredibly silly stories we have read in some time! . The final book we got to review was about Sam, a mouse who lives in a library.   The book, Library Mouse: A World to Explore, by Daniel Kirk, is really cute.   My hubby used to be a librarian (sexy, I know!) and we love our local library and the trove of information you can find browsing books.   Sam and his friend Sarah share their love of books with the readers, and explain how they research with books to learn new things, like how to fly airplanes or to pretend they were Egyptian pharaohs.   They get to “see the world” through the books they are reading. .