Favorite back-to-school books

Few childhood milestones elicit as many butterflies as the first day of school. Just like an encouraging parent, the right story can help ease the way. Whether your little one is heading back to the grind after a long and lazy summer or is about to walk through those preschool doors for the very first time, these titles—handpicked by librarians from all five boroughs—will offer plenty of reassurance…to both of you.

Froggy Goes to School

By Jonathan London Illustrations by Frank Remkiewicz. Puffin, $6. Ages 2 to 6.

A great story for reading out loud, this fourth book in the Froggy series offers plenty of “lively prose, peppered with sound effects,” says Susie Heimbach of the New York Public Library’s Mulberry Street branch. Spirited Froggy gets dressed with a “zip, zoop, zup” and heads to school with a “flop, flop, flop.” Despite making “mistakes,” like yelling too loud, interrupting and daydreaming, Froggy manages to charm his classmates—and even teaches the principal to swim (on dry land) before the day is out.