Board the Big Bus: Off to School!

IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL.

WE SAY GOOD-BYE TO OUR MOMS AND DADS AT THE BUS STOP AND GET ON THE BUS.

Leaving the preschool days behind and taking a seat on that official (and very large) yellow bus is one of the rites of passage in early childhood. Some kids find the big bus the scariest part of the day, and others can't wait to enter those special, swishing doors, the portal to leaving their "baby" days behind, and climb into that "big kid" zone that only "big school" kids can claim as their own.

Barron's attractive little die-cut (with the top of all windows open) board book, Off to School (Barron's, 2010) takes rising Kindergartners on a virtual tour of that epic bus ride and the first day of school that follows. A teacher's aide lines up each class and leads them to their classroom where (Gulp!) their TEACHER awaits them--luckily with a smile. What follows is a birds-eye tour of stuff to know for the first day--the coat hooks, cubbies, their all-important seats with their names already on them, the story circle, the morning snack time, arts and crafts, the playhouse and interest centers, music (with real instruments), and the playground with its big climbing toys--before the big yellow bus pulls back into the driveway to take the kids home to their parents, eagerly awaiting to hear all about it.

For kids just beginning to take that first giant step out into the world, this little yellow bus-shaped book makes a good place to start the countdown to Kindergarten.