Back-to-School Books for First and Second Graders

Below is a list of read-alouds for the start of the school year curated by Literacy Trust program managers. These books focus on the back-to-school themes of identity, inclusion, empathy, creativity, mindfulness, perseverance and resilience. We hope these stories will help students as they begin to navigate this unprecedented school year and support educators in fostering community within their in-person or virtual classrooms.

You can find many of these books at your local New York Public Library branch. Also, check out some of these titles in our Back to School with Literacy Trust digital collection on Epic!