by Natasha Wing, illus. by Julie Durrell

'Twas the night before kindergarten, and as they prepared,
kids were excited,
and a little bit scared.

It's the first day of school! Join the kids as they prepare for kindergarten, packing school supplies, posing for pictures, and the hardest part of all-saying goodbye to Mom and Dad. But maybe it won't be so hard once they discover just how much fun kindergarten really is! Colourful illustrations illuminate this uplifting takeoff on the classic Clement C. Moore Christmas poem.

by Natasha Wing, illus. by Deborah Zemke

It’s the night before the Big Day—first grade. Penny is excited to start the year with her best friend right beside her in the same classroom. This humorous take on Clement C. Moore’s classic tale has a perfect twist ending that will surprise readers—as well as the "heroine" of the story—and help all about-to-be first-graders through their own backto- school jitters.

Matthew Van Fleet

In Matthew Van Fleet's incredible new multiconcept book, over 100 creatures and plants from A to Z hilariously demonstrate action words, synonyms, opposites, and more. Young explorers are challenged to spot four plants or animals that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Twenty-three textures plus foils, flaps, pull tabs, and even a scratch-and-sniff scent add to the interactive surprises on every page.

Julie Danneberg, illus. by Judith Dufour Love.

Danneberg puts a fresh twist on an annual crisis suffered by millions: the arrival of that dread day in September when school starts. The alarm rings, but Sarah Jane Hartwell just burrows deeper into her covers, announcing that shes not going, wailing `` `I dont know anybody, and it will be hard, and . . . I just hate it, thats all.' '' Finally, Mr. Hartwell firmly orders her down to breakfast, puts her in the car and drops her off to join the children flooding through the school doors. Love fills the sharply detailed illustrations with happy, individually distinct faces, vividly capturing the fateful mornings hubbub and, aside from a few hints for the sharp-eyed, artfully setting viewers up for the climactic revelation that Sarah Jane is not a student, but a teacher. Many children will be amazed at the idea that teachers get butterflies too, especially if theyve been exposed to the hyper-efficient protagonist of Joseph Slates Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten (1996). (Picture book. 6-8)

PreSchool-Grade 1

—It's Izzy's first day of school and her excitement can be felt in exuberant illustrations and exclamations of "Wow! Classroom!," "Wow! Teacher!," etc. Bright, busy oversized spreads paired with simple patterned text make this an appealing look at a new experience. Children may need some time to take in everything happening in the bustling pages, but they will enjoy picking out familiar objects and activities as they follow Izzy through her day. Sharp-eyed youngsters will spot copies of No, David! and Madeline in the illustration accompanying "Wow! Books!," and some may even spot the author's own Wow! City! on the first spread. The bold, crayonlike lines of Neubecker's India-ink drawings contrast pleasingly with the computer-generated color. This is a wonderful book for sharing with groups of emergent readers, who will enjoy chiming along, and it is well suited to the attention spans of children just beginning preschool or kindergarten.

by Molly Bang

PreSchool-K

–A cheerfully reassuring book in which a mother describes her day and that of her child, during which she unfailingly holds the boy in her heart. The cast of characters (family, colleagues, and friends) is multicultural. Mixed-media illustrations, as busy as the woman's day, are rendered in bright, saturated colors. Many of the beginning letters of the words are oversize and become a part of the artwork (e.g., the Y in a You is depicted as two crossed hands holding a heart in which the child floats). Hearts abound. Though the theme of a parent's devotion even in absence is consistent to the point of repetitiveness, the layout and design are not. From full-bleed spreads to neatly framed vignettes to two pages of illustrated building blocks, there is a lack of coherence in composition that seems to stand in opposition to the intended message. Not a real story, but for the child for whom separation brings anxiety, a warmhearted antidote.–

by Katie Davis

PreSchool-K

–According to Dexter, he is totally calm about starting kindergarten, but his stuffed dog, Rufus, is fearful about the bus finding the way to school, getting lunch, being tagged as the only one who can't read, and getting a mean teacher. (Dexter, of course, isn't worried about anything.) His big sister, Jessie, has prepared him well and offers him some smart advice: If Rufus gets scared, just give him a hug. Upon arriving, Dexter finds that his best friend from preschool is in his class. Among other activities, he gets to write letters, cook food, and play in the school's imagination station. The library has books to borrow, and the cafeteria is exactly almost like a restaurant. In fact, Dexter is having such a great time that he forgets about his stuffed friend until he realizes that Rufus is LOST! A succession of cartoon illustrations and speech bubbles follows the large-eyed child through his first day of school. A gentle, humorous read to calm the anxiety of younger students.

Anne Rockwell

PreS-K

-A veteran author of books for the very young, Rockwell has produced a quiet, reassuring look at kindergarten routines. A little boy and his mother attend an open house, and he discovers all of the fascinating classroom centers and the activities that he will be doing in each one when September arrives. After finding a new friend and sharing cookies, he goes home contentedly with his mother, thinking that the school building doesn't look too big at all anymore, but seems "-just the right size for me!" The story is enhanced by simple, bright, and uncluttered illustrations that look like a young child's artwork-a perfect fit for the text. Although there are many titles about starting kindergarten, this one is just right to share one-on-one with an apprehensive four- or five-year-old.

by Amy Schwartz

PreSchool-Grade 2

Annabelle Swift is more than ready for kindergarten, for she has been tutored by her older sister, Lucy. However, when Annabelle announces herself as ``Annabelle Swift, kindergartner!'' during a roll call, her classmates are reduced to giggles. Then, when Mr. Blum brings out the color lollipops, poor Annabelle embarrasses herself by calling one ``Blue Desire,'' for Lucy taught her the colors at their mother's make-up table. Encouraged by a recess pep talk from Lucy and supported by her own common sense and her lucky name tag, Annabelle proves her mettle by successfully counting the milk money and becoming the first kindergarten milk monitor. In illustrations that carefully evoke the naive and awkward drawings of children, Schwartz captures the essence of childhood complete with pedal-pushers, pinafores, and 6? milk. Line and wash illustrations in crayon-bright colors reveal a classroom that is cheerful, warm, and inviting. The children pictured are universal yet individual, while the adults are solid and supportive. Schwartz is in fine form summoning the fears and feelings that all children experience at one time or another. Preschoolers will readily empathize with Annabelle's plight, while beginning readers will enjoy a giggly head start on such school stories as Cleary's Ramona the Pest (Morrow, 1968). Schwartz' humor

Rosemary Wells

PreSchool-Grade 1

–Emily and her classmates are back, and children follow them throughout their kindergarten year through charming vignettes and enchanting illustrations. Each oversized spread offers a learning experience, whether readers are singing number songs with Emily and Diane Duck, making Valentine cakes with Emily and her mother, or hearing about the voting process. " 'We vote,' says Grandpa, 'in order to try and make more good things than bad things happen in our world.'" Miss Cribbage inspires her students to learn about the world around them in innovative ways. For example, the class creates a "Museum of Things" where they put tiny treasures or waylaid pieces into boxes that they label as animal, vegetable, or mineral. The corresponding photographs of the items against a stark white background face humorous pictures of students dressed as an animal, mineral, or vegetable. The book is lighthearted and full of caring detail, warm expressions, and explosions of color. In addition to being about that wonderful first year of school, Kindergarten serves as a celebration of family and community, reminding readers that the school day extends far beyond the borders of the classroom walls. This is Wells at her best.

by Kevin Henkes

Henkes (Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse) introduces another wonderfully appealing child-mouse with a stubborn habit: worrying. Wemberly, a shy white mouse with gray spots, always feels nervous whether at home or away. "At the playground, Wemberly worried about/ the chains on the swings,/ and the bolts on the slide,/ and the bars on the jungle gym." She tells her father, "Too rusty. Too loose. Too high," while sitting on a park bench watching the other mice play. Her security blanket, a rabbit doll named Petal (whose spot over the left eye matches her own), rarely leaves her grip. Henkes adroitly juggles the main narrative, hand-lettered asides and watercolor-and-ink imagery of the young pessimist and her supportive parents; each element contributes a different strength. For instance, as he lists Wemberly's worries, "Big things" heads the list, paired with a vignette of the heroine checking on her parents in the middle of the night with a flashlight, "I wanted to make sure you were still here." He later shows how Wemberly's anxieties peak at the start of nursery school with huge text that dwarfs tiny illustrations. At this overwhelming moment, Wemberly meets another girl mouse, Jewel, who turns out to be a kindred spirit (she even carries her own worn doll). Henkes offers no pat solutions, handling the material with uncanny empathy and gentleness; while playing with Jewel, "Wemberly worried. But no more than usual. And sometimes even less." This winning heroine speaks to the worrywart in everyone.

by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolff.  

Ages 4+

On the first day of kindergarten, Miss Bindergarten must prepare her classroom for her beloved students. This noble, whimsical teacher greets her dark, summertime-empty classroom with an explosion of color--a bouquet of fall leaves, a goldfish, rolled-up posters, and shoeboxes full of no-doubt-delightful surprises. Meanwhile, her young students get ready, too: "Adam Krupp wakes up. Brenda Heath brushes her teeth. Christopher Beaker finds his sneaker." Author Joseph Slate matches each animal character with a letter of the alphabet, and readers can flip to the back to discover that Adam is an alligator, Brenda is a beaver, and Christopher is a cat--and so on, through the more obscure animals such as the quokka and the Uakari monkey. Youngsters will relish the scenes of school preparation, adorned by rhyming text: a mother iguana dragging her son Ian Lowe (who cries "I won't go!") out the front door, and the little vole Vicki Densel biting her pencil. And of course Miss Bindergarten is the kindergarten teacher we either remember fondly or wish we had. The final back-to-school classroom scene explodes with love and pride and the smell of freshly sharpened pencils.

by Tera Lynn Childs

The story is part "Harry Potter," part Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief and part shojo, and it will keep teens, particularly girls, reading. -- School Library Journal

The mythological concept elevates the usual high-school dramas...to new heights. Funny and light, this tale is a romance of Olympian proportions. -- Kirkus Reviews

An effervescent, fast-paced read. -Publishers Weekly, starred review

Victoria Forester

You just can’t keep a good girl down . . . unless you use the proper methods. Piper McCloud can fly. Just like that. Easy as pie. Sure, she hasn’t mastered reverse propulsion and her turns are kind of sloppy, but she’s real good at loop-the-loops. Problem is, the good folk of Lowland County are afraid of Piper. And her ma’s at her wit’s end. So it seems only fitting that she leave her parents’ farm to attend a top-secret, maximum-security school for kids with exceptional abilities. School is great at first with a bunch of new friends whose skills range from super-strength to super-genius. (Plus all the homemade apple pie she can eat!) But Piper is special, even among the special. And there are consequences. Consequences too dire to talk about. Too crazy to consider. And too dangerous to ignore. At turns exhilarating and terrifying, Victoria Forester’s debut novel is an unforgettable story of defiance and courage about an irrepressible heroine who can, who will, who must . . . fly.

Claudia Gray

"Stephenie Meyer fans will find similar rewards in the flashes of humor; the terrifying battle between ancient, supernatural societies; and the steamy romance in which love bites aren’t just a euphemism." -- Booklist

"Teenage love, ancient hatred and a Romeo and Juliet-style feud fuel the fires in this compelling first-person drama." -- Romantic Times BOOKclub

Bianca wants to escape. She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in. Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight type" either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful--even when it comes to caring about him. ""I couldn't stand it if they took it out on you,"" he tells Bianca, ""and eventually they would."" But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.
 

by E. Lockhart

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14:
Debate Club.
Her father's "bunny rabbit."
A mildly geeky girl attending a highly competitive boarding school.

Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15:
A knockout figure.
A sharp tongue.
A chip on her shoulder.
And a gorgeous new senior boyfriend:  the supremely goofy, word-obsessed Matthew Livingston.

Frankie Landau-Banks.
No longer the kind of girl to take "no" for an answer.
Especially when "no" means she's excluded from her boyfriend's all-male secret society.
Not when her ex-boyfriend shows up in the strangest of places.
Not when she knows she's smarter than any of them.
When she knows Matthew's lying to her.
And when there are so many, many pranks to be done.

Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16:
Possibly a criminal mastermind.

This is the story of how she got that way.  

Brian Katcher

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD LEON SANDERS has a mug that looks like it should be hanging in a post office somewhere. If he didn’t have his twisted sense of humor, he’d have nothing at all. So it’s no wonder to Leon and his friends that the gorgeous Amy Green will never even look twice at him.
However, there is one girl who might: Melody Hennon. Everyone at Zumner High keeps their distance from Melody because she was burned in a childhood accident. Leon has avoided her, too, until the day he tells her a bad joke and makes her laugh. Although Leon worries what people will think of him dating Melody, he’s happy to have someone in his life who thinks he’s special. That is, happy until Amy Green asks him out after Leon saves her from getting detention. Will Leon give up a shot with the Beauty so that he can live the fairy tale with the Beast?

by Dori Hillestad Butler

When Zebby and Amr create the website thetruthabouttruman.com, they want it to be honest. They want it to be about the real Truman Middle School, to say things that the school newspaper would never say, and to give everyone a chance to say what they want to say, too.

But given the chance, some people will say anything-anything to hurt someone else. And when rumors about one popular student escalate to cruel new levels, it's clear the truth about Truman School is more harrowing than anyone ever imagined.