It’s back to school season, and you know what that means: students everywhere are loading up their backpacks with all the necessary supplies, like pencils, pens, notebooks, and books that haven’t even been cracked open yet. While reading may not be on the minds of every student as they prepare for the year ahead, here are some awesome books to get you in the spirit of heading back to school, from children’s books and YA novels to adult fiction.
Children’s Books
1. My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil: And Other Funny Classroom Portraits by Hanoch Piven
Laughter will pour out of both you and your child when you read My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil. Plus, it’s a great way to teach children about all the special people they may find when they go to school for the first time, with illustrations to match.
Source: Amazon
2. My Teacher Sleeps in School by Leatie Weiss
Young children often don’t quite understand that their teachers do not actually live at school, which is exactly what this cute story is all about: a classroom full of elementary school children who believe their teacher lives in the classroom.
Source: Amazon
3. If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff
Similar to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the fun children’s book you may remember from your own childhood, If You Take a Mouse to School is fun story that plays out what exactly would happen if you took a mouse along with you to your first day of school.
Source: Amazon
YA Novels
1. The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban
This mystery centers on teenager Tim, a new student at the prestigious Irving School, who meets the girl of his dreams. Sadly, this is a tale of forbidden love that explores the true meaning of tragedy, first love, and tragic loss.
Source: Amazon
2. Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell
In this tale, Janie is a high school freshman trying to find a way to fit in while still remaining her fun and funky self, something just about every high school-aged freshman goes through. A coming of age story, Janie must figure out, like everyone else, that being normal is overrated.
3. The Edumacation of Jay Baker by Jay Clark
A hilarious and fun read, The Edumacation of Jay Baker captures the high school experience in a nutshell. It’s portrayal of high school life and one teen’s experience managing between a broken home and awkward romance exceptionally shows what it’s like to be young.
Source: Amazon
Adult Novels
1. Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson
Like Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Welcome to Braggsville criticizes our nation’s racial stereotypes. This story is more relevant to the concept of race today, and opens reader’s eyes to harmful delusions harbored by white people, Southern conservatives, and even liberals as it follows a young white college student with idealistic ideas on the dynamics of race.
Source: Amazon
2. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
If you loved reading Shakespeare is college but hated the hard-to-read, outdated writing style, you’ll love Groff’s display of marriage in this book, which resembles an updated Shakespearean drama. Because every relationship has two perspectives, Groff lays them both on the line.
Source: Amazon
3. On Such A Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee
Updating the concept of a young male protagonist in a dystopian world from The Giver by Lois Lowry, On Such A Full Sea paints a picture that is not quite as black and white while remaining quite similar. The main character is a female this time who, like Jonas, becomes brave enough to fight for love.
Source: Amazon
What are some of your favorite back to school books?
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Featured image via Central Florida Monthly
