First Day of School Read-Alouds with Global and Multicultural Perspectives
Mary Ann Reilly
Grades K-3
Ada, Alma Flor. 1993. My Name is María Isabel. Illustrated by K. Dyble Thompson. New York: Aladdin. María Isabel is the new girl in school and instead of being called by her given name her teacher gives her a substitute name, Mary. A writing assignment provides an opportunity for Maria to express her feelings about her name to her teacher.
Alarcón, Francisco X. 2005. Para soñar el futuro/Dreaming Up the Future in Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para soñar juntos. Illustrated by Paula Barragán. New York: Lee & Low Books. Lovely poem that explores what children might become in 20- years. Poem is written in Spanish and English.
Alarcón, Francisco X. 1999. Primer día de clases/First Day of School and Ángel de la Guarda/Guardian Angel. From Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems/Los Ángeles Andan en Bicileta y Otros Poemas de Otoño. Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. Two poems about the first day of school.
Argueta, Jorge. 2006. Moony Luna: Luna, Lunita, Lunera. Illustrations by Elizabeth Goméz. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. First day of kindergarten for Luna - a bilingual [Spanish/English] picture book.
Ashley, Bernard. 1991. Cleversticks. Illustrated by Derek Brazell. Ling Sung doesn't like school after the first day. Everyone in his class can do things he cannot. But, during the second day, Ling Sung does something only he can do.
Figueredo, D.H. 2003. When This World Was New. Illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez. New York: Lee & Low Books. The story of a child's arrival to the United States, his anxiousness about going to school the next day, and the lovely surprise that awaits him when he wakes up.
Herrera, Juan Felipe. 2000. The Upside Down Boy / El niño de cabeza. Illustrated by Elizabeth Gómez. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. Jaunito feels everything is upside down when he attends school for the first time. Bilingual [English/Spanish] picture book.
Pak, Soyung. 2003. Sumi's First Day of School. Illustrated by Joung Un Kim. New York: Viking. (1st day of school for a Korean child at her new school.
Léonard, Marie. 2001. Tibili: The Little Boy Who Did Not Want to Go to School. Illustrated by Adrée Prigent. La Jolla, CA: Kane/Miller Publisher. A tale about starting school set on the African savannah.
McNaughton, Colin. 2005. Once Upon an Ordinary School Day. Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. New York: Farrar Strauss Giroux. An not-so-ordinary teacher, Mr. Ghee, changes an ordinary school day.
Recorvits, Helen. 2003. My Name is Yoon. Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. A Korean girl's adjustment to school.
Stock, Catherine. 1993. Where Are You Going, Manyoni? New York: Harper Collins. A Zimbabwe child walks to school.
Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie. 2007. Elizabeti's School. Illustrated by Christy Hale. New York: Lee & Low Books. Elizabeti's first day of school. While at school she wonders what her family is doing at home. The story is set in Tanzania.
Grades 4-6
Campbell, Nicola I. 2005. Shi-shi-etko. Illustrated by Kim LaFave. Toronto: Groundwood Books. The last four days prior to a young Canadian girl's removal from her family to attend a residential school in order to learn English language and culture. This is a challenging book to read aloud.
Hughes, Langston. 2006. "To You" in Daphne Muse (compiler) The Entrance Place of Wonders: Poems of the Harlem Renaissance. Illustrated by Charlotte Riley-Webb. New York: Harry N. Abrahms, Inc.
Jiménez, Francisco. 1998. La mariposa. Illustrated by Simón Silva. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. A son of migrant workers who has difficulty adjusting to a new school.
Maher, Ramona. 2003. "September" in Alice Yazzie's Year. Illustrated by Shonto Begay. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press. An 11-year-old Navajo girl prepares to go to school.
McBier, Page. 2001. Beatrice's Goat. Illustrated by Lori Lohstoeter. New York: Aladdin. A true story about a nine-year-old Uganda girl who is able to go to school.
Median, Tony. "My Princess Story" From DeShawn Days. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. New York: Lee & Low Books. Told in verse, this poem about 10-year-old DeShawn tells how he would be the hero helping a neighborhood princess get to school safely through the streets.
Nikola-Lisa, W. 2006. How We Are Smart. Illustrated by Sean Qualls. NY: Lee & Low. Although not book about starting school it may provide a complementary way of thinking about how we are smart by reading aloud these brief biographical sketches.
Perez, L. King. 2002. First Day in the Grapes. Illustrated by Robert Casilla. NY: Lee & Low. Chico, a 3rd grader's first day in a new school.
Roberts-Davis, Tanya. 2003. We Need to Go to School: Voices of the Rugmark Children. Toronto: Groundwood Books. Writing and drawings by Nepalese children who now attend school instead of being forced workers in carpet factories.
Schertle, Alice. 2007. We. Illustrated by Kenneth Addison. New York: Lee and Low. A striking book-length poem that examines human evolution. An interesting way perhaps of seeing the interconnections.
Walker, Alice. 1998. "Women." From Catherine Clinton (Ed.) I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry.. Illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, (p. 122). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Mary Ann Reilly is an Associate Professor of Literacy at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York.
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