First Day of School Books for Black Kids (Ages 3-6)
The week before school starts is mostly big feelings in small bodies.
I have bought a lot of books about it over the years. Some are extraordinary. Some I bought because the cover was pretty and nobody has asked for them again since.
These eight earned their place on the shelf.
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1. The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
A boy wakes up on his first morning of school and his mother tells him he is royalty. And he believes her. All day.
That is the feeling that I want my son to have when he goes to school in September: Shoulders back, walking in like the room is lucky to have him.
2. The Queen of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes
The companion, and just as strong, which almost never happens with a follow-up.
If you have a boy and a girl, buy both. I promise you the second child notices 😂
3. Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
On the surface it is about a boy working up the nerve to jump off a diving board. Underneath it is about being frightened and going anyway, which is every first day of school ever.
Watch what the father does. He never rushes his son. He just stands there and waits. I have thought about that page more than I expected to.
4. Your Name Is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow
My maiden name was Munyuzangabo. Five syllables. I spent a lot of years watching people decide that was too much effort before they had even tried.
This is the book I wish somebody had handed me. Read it the night before, because day one is usually when a teacher meets your child's name and gets it wrong.
5. All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
This is the one to send in to the classroom rather than keep at home. Teachers reach for it in the first week.
What it does beautifully is make every child in the room feel like somebody set a place for them before they arrived.
6. The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López
For the child walking into a room where nobody looks like them, or sounds like them, or ate what they ate at the weekend.
I moved a lot growing up. Seven countries, three continents, and I was the new girl in most of them. Woodson gets something right here that I have rarely seen anyone get right, which is that being new is lonely and also survivable.
7. I Am Enough by Grace Byers
Fourteen thousand reviews and still climbing.
It is short, which matters more than people admit. Some mornings the bus is coming, everyone is crying, and you have ninety seconds 🫠
8. Isaro and Juru's Big Trip to Accra by Michaella Mutoni-Dorvlo
Mine, and I have put it here on purpose.
The children who need this list are often the same children who get asked where they are from. My husband is from Ghana, I am Rwandan, and our two children will field that question their whole lives. I wanted them to have a version of the answer that feels like a celebration.
Here's to a soft landing in September, for them and for us 💫
And if your child is the one getting asked where they are really from, I wrote a second list for that: Books for Third Culture Kids