Our 3-year-old started school recently, and in the weeks prior to the first day, we read him books about preschool: what to expect, how to deal with hard emotions, what a school day entails. Some books were great in introducing those concepts, some focused primarily on feelings, and others were a pass. I sifted through them for you, to help your little feel ready and excited for school.

Practical with a dose of emotional regulation

The Night Before Preschool

• Introduces key school routines and concepts
  • This story is centered around a little boy who is nervous about going to pre-school. The story covers the practical day-to-day concepts of preschool introducing circle time, cubbies, drop off, recess, etc.
• Introduces emotional regulation
  • The book has an emotion-based storyline (the little boy is scared of the first day, gets sad during the nap time because he lost his stuffed animal, etc.) and introduces how friends can help, and how to feel better when those moments happen

Primarily practical

Rosie Goes to Preschool

• Introduces key school routines and concepts
  • The story is about a little girl named Rosie going to preschool, and it covered the day-to-day of school in the most realistic way
  • Our little learned detailed concepts like what a cubby is, what tasks they may get assigned in pre-school, as well as high-level concepts of what may happen during a school day like drop off, nap time, recess etc.
• Includes key tips for kids + parents on how to make the day go more smoothly.
  • What was especially nice was little call-outs from Rosie, with ‘tips’ for the first day. For example, in the drop-off page, the tip was something along the lines of: make it quick & short, your mommy or daddy will be back in no time!

Hello School

• Introduces key school routines and concepts
  • The story is about a little boy attending school for the first time, and covers parts of the school day like circle time, recess, nap time, etc.
• Introduces school curriculum concepts like letters and numbers
  • The book includes examples of counting (counting acorns) and spelling (joining letters to make three-letter words) to introduce a sense of curriculum that will be present during the school day

Sweet, quick intro without too many concepts

Spot Goes to School

• Doesn’t introduce too many school concepts beyond drop-off, meeting the teacher, attending an art class, and play, but is a sweet and quick intro if you don’t want to delve too deep into the routines in a school day
• Also available via a read-aloud, 6-minute video on YouTube – our child loved watching this sweet, short video of the book to start to understand the concept of ‘school’

The Pigeon HAS To Go To School

• If you don’t care too much about providing realistic concepts of a school day, and just want to make your child giggle, this is a great, humorous pick to lighten the mood around starting school. Another Mo Willems classic

Some Misses

Yeti Is Not Ready for School

• We weren’t a fan of this one. The concepts were confusing, the vocabulary was difficult, and it didn’t introduce practical concepts which are necessary for a child to be familiar with his new school environment
• Lacking in introducing key school routines or concepts
  • The story focuses on a small yeti who is afraid to go to school. She goes through many iterations of anxiety and fear, and at the end, realizes that other fantastical creatures are scared as she is, which makes it better? 
  • It didn’t cover practical concepts (drop off, lunch, nap time, cubbies, recess, etc.) and introduced complex vocabulary which was not appropriate for a preschool-aged child
• The concepts aren’t concrete for younger kids to grasp onto
  • The book was entirely based on fantasy – after all, it’s centered on a yeti, and her friends who are vampires, etc. – so was not the best fit for a younger reader. Perhaps it’s more entertaining for an older, kindergarten+ audience, but this book was a pass for our 3-year-old

Happy reading!