Books for back to school are in abundance this year, whether they are meant to ease the separation trauma of a beginning preschooler, support someone who is making the adjustment from summer vacation easily or providing the parents with guidelines for getting the children ready. Following are some of my favorites:
Helen Oxenbury's work is internationally known. She captures in unusual ways the emotions of children. In "First Day at School" (Warner/Puffin) a little girl has many trepidations about nursery school even though she can wear her new shoes. Oxenbury portrays the clinging child as she works her way through fear, acceptance and finally to "see you tomorrow . . . "Similarly in "Edward Unready for School" by Rosemary Wells (Dial) the child appears to fear the first day of class. But in this one Edward isn't ready and the wise parents accept this and let him stay home a little longer.
Exuberant Froggy in "Froggy Goes to School" by Jonathan London and Frank Femkiewicz (Viking) has trouble in school but finds fun with Mom at the end of the day. Many teachers and parents will relate to Froggy as they will with "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten" by Joseph Slate illustrated by Ashley Wolff (Dutton), which shows animals' preparation for pre-school.
In "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy Leak (Child Wel-fare League of America, Wash., D.C.) Mrs. Raccoon assures Chester that he will not be lonely in school because he can carry a special kiss in his palm to hold to his cheek whenever he is lonely. "The Kissing Hand" has become a favorite of 5-year-old Colby McLane who, like the raccoons in the story has planted kisses in the palms of everyone as he gets ready for kindergarten.
Ann Cannon's "I Know What You Do When I Go to School" (Peregrine) finds that Mom's work at home might not be as wonderful as the classroom after all (a full review of this appeared in this column on Aug. 7).
"Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10" by Judy Finchler (Walker) is a humorous story about how children find out that their teacher's residence isn't the classroom at all and that she is moving into the apartment next door. Kevin O'Malley's animated pictures add much to the appeal of the children's discovery.
Two humorous chapter-books for 3rd- to 5th-graders are "Amber Brown Goes Fourth" and "Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit" by Paula Danzinger (Putnam). Fans of Amber will delight in the next ventures of this spirited pre-teenager.
For children who need to report on the summer vacation (and isn't that the most likely first assignment of the year!) "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Mark Teague (Crown) will give lots of laughs especially with the impossible antics that couldn't have happened but were reported anyway.
Lee Bennett Hopkin's "School Supplies: A Book of Poems" (Simon and Schuster) is a collection that can carry throughout the year. The stylized art of Renee Flowers accompanies poems by Myra Cohn Livingston, Patrick Lewis, Carl Sandburg and a dozen other well-known writers.
For parents who are seeking those last-minute ideas to get their children ready, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish's "How to Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School" (Simon and Schuster) might be just the ticket. These down-to-earth dialogues and anecdotes about problems that interfere with learning show some promise for discipline and independent study.
For more basic ideas, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Preschool" by Ellen BoothChurch (Scholastic) gives questions that are asked by parents of this age such as preparation for a good education, separation trauma and skills needed for entering children. There are two supportive volumes that cover kindergarten and first grade as well.
E.D. Hirsch Jr. (author of "The Cultural Literacy") has a series for parents to understand their 1st- through 6th-graders. The format on these is a list of what needs to be known before each grade. If you believe in a prescribed canon of facts, ideas and skills that assure success for any age, then these might be right for you.
Directly related to curriculum, but not necessarily for "back to school," is "Playwise: 365 Fun-Filled Activities for Building Character, Conscience and Emotional Intelligence in Children" by Denise Chapman Weston and Mark Weston (Tarcher-Putnam) is a much sought-after volume of things-to-do through play adding to personal values such as "happiness," "social harmony," "self-awareness" and "resourcefulness" The national reviews of this volume have been superb and in favor of adding "value-education" to the classroom studies.