Books for Kids Starting Preschool

NY Times

These back-to-school reads will help children tackle first-day nerves, new teachers, letters, numbers, and more.

Summary for Educators

Source: Jonker, T. (2025, August 4). Books for Kids Starting Preschool. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/books/review/preschool-books.html

Starting preschool is an emotional milestone for children and their families. The transition often brings a mix of excitement, nervousness, and curiosity. Carefully selected picture books can help prepare young learners for this change, easing first-day anxieties while also introducing academic concepts like letters, numbers, and social skills. Travis Jonker, librarian and children’s book author, highlights several titles that educators and parents can use to support preschool readiness.

Building Confidence Through Gentle Guidance

Davina Bell’s What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do, illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper, offers calm, empathetic advice for handling new experiences, from playground etiquette to swimming lessons. The minimal text and soft watercolor illustrations encourage children to think for themselves while feeling reassured. This title models adaptability and problem-solving—critical for early school experiences.

Jamel C. Campbell’s Olu’s Teacher, illustrated by Lydia Mba, addresses one of the biggest preschool worries: meeting a new teacher. The story follows Olu’s nervous anticipation, which is soothed once he meets his warm and welcoming teacher. This book helps normalize pre-school jitters and emphasizes teacher-student relationships as a foundation for learning.

Kevin Henkes’s Wemberly Worried portrays a mouse overwhelmed by anxiety about everything—especially starting school. When Wemberly makes a friend, her fears begin to fade, showing children that connection is a powerful antidote to worry. This book can open classroom discussions about feelings and friendship.

Acknowledging Complex Emotions

Alliah L. Agostini’s Scarecited on the First Day of School, illustrated by Lala Watkins, introduces terms like “scarecited” (scared + excited) and “bravous” (brave + nervous) to capture the mixed emotions children often feel. Afua’s story, including the challenge of correcting her teacher’s mispronunciation of her name, invites conversations about identity, confidence, and cultural respect—essential social-emotional learning components.

Introducing the School Environment

Kate and Jim McMullan’s I’m Smart! gives voice to a cheerful yellow school bus who proudly delivers students to school, offering an upbeat, transportation-focused perspective on the daily routine. William Bee’s Stanley’s School flips the script—Stanley the guinea pig is the teacher, guiding students through a full day. Both books help familiarize children with the structure of a school day and the roles of different people they’ll meet.

Boosting Early Academic Skills

Audrey and Bruce Wood’s Alphabet Mystery turns letter learning into an adventure, as the alphabet rescues runaway little “x” from a villainous capital “M.” This playful approach builds literacy while reinforcing teamwork and problem-solving. Donald Crews’s Ten Black Dots makes numeracy fun with rhyming couplets and creative illustrations, turning dots into objects like balloons and fox eyes. This 1968 classic remains a model for integrating math concepts into engaging storytelling.

Exploring Nature and Science

Antoinette Portis’s A Seed Grows introduces the life cycle of a sunflower, using bold illustrations and a circular narrative to teach about growth and change. Its award-winning clarity and beauty make it an excellent choice for integrating science into storytime.

Celebrating Curiosity and Construction

Build! by Red Nose Studio combines vibrant 3D illustrations with action verbs to explore construction work. This book’s playful, tactile visual style captures young children’s fascination with how things are made, reinforcing vocabulary and sequencing skills.

Educational Takeaways for Preschool Teachers

These books serve multiple functions:

• Emotional preparation (Wemberly Worried, Olu’s Teacher, Scarecited).

• Familiarization with routines and environments (I’m Smart!, Stanley’s School).

• Academic readiness (Alphabet Mystery, Ten Black Dots).

• STEM connections (A Seed Grows, Build!).

By integrating these titles into read-aloud sessions before and during the first weeks of preschool, educators can foster emotional resilience, community building, and early learning. These stories open conversations about feelings, encourage name recognition and respect, and offer enjoyable entry points to literacy, numeracy, and science.

Original Article

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Prepared with the assistance of AI software

OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (4) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com