I know school just got out and probably the last thing a kid wants to do is read about the first day of school. However, for the aged six to nine (and lower ten-year-old) readers, these books will make your child want to go to school. And maybe you can convince them that a snot monster and a (spoiler) glob custodian will be at their school. But even if you can’t, these books are worth taking a few moments to read to your child, with your child, or solo reads for the child.
Scare School Diaries V01 Welcome to Scare School by Jarrett Lerner is due July 2024, but thankfully I had an online reader copy, because now I can tell you about this cute story about being afraid but overcoming it. The setting is a boarding school where monsters go to learn to be monsters (they learn their scaring skills and their own unique speciality skills). Bash is a ghost who is not good at ghostly things, but is willing to try. Even though it’s his first time away from home and he is very scared. The idea of trying, failing and trying again is not new, but the author just has fun with the idea. We have zombies, sibling vampires, snot monsters, spiders, a pirate cafeteria chef, a librarian who is a skeleton, and a headmaster who can have class with his head on the desk and his body taking a bathroom break. This is all shown in a diary/journal format where we can see the lines of the book’s pages, as Bash tells us of their misadventures in text and black and white (I’m assuming) very minimalistic illustrations. Volume two is due fall 2024.
I found an online copy of Bright Family: Too Cool For School by Gabe Soria recently (Steven Scott (also an author) and illustrations by Derick Brooks play roles, too). I was looking to see if it was a series, as I thought I had seen another title ages ago, but when I first looked at it, it didn’t seem to be. But when I looked into it more, sure enough my research said it was volume three. However, it does not feel like you need to know volumes one or two to actually enjoy three. The Bright siblings are typical school-aged kids who come from a family who is closer than close. Therefore, when it is time to start the new school year, they go together: mom the principal, dad a teacher and the kids students. Not to mention, mom and dad helped found the school. Nia and Jayden have Hardy Boy/Nancy Drew/Encyclopedia Brown like adventures in an intergalactic school for all types of people… ah beings. Each of these journeys are broken into a section or chapter. I have only gotten through the first section/chapter, where they must find out why the school is so cold and where the missing janitor is, but I liked that enough to say, find these books. Things are in a brightly colored, minimally detailed illustrated setting and things are just bouncy and fun. I will add that each book seems to have a fiddferent author adn/or illustrator, but here are awesome overlapping. Due July 2024.