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Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Children's Services Leader, Jesse Isley, shares six back-to-school titles for kids, teens and adults.

Charlotte Today: Back-to-school books for every age

August 12, 2019

Children's Services Leader, Jesse Isley, made a guest appearance on WCNC's Charlotte Today on Monday, August 5, 2019 and shared six back-to-school titles for kids, teens and adults. 

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Children’s picture books:

Your First Day of Circus School by Tara Lazar, illustrated by Melissa Crowton

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages! It's the most amazing day on earth: the first day of school! It can be a daunting prospect, but don't worry - your big brother can show you the ropes. Join a nervous boy and his enthusiastic older brother as they navigate the highs and lows of a first day at school . . . except this school is a big top, and the teacher is named Miss Stupendous, and the cafeteria can be a zoo, literally! It turns out, school isn't so scary when you can let off steam during recess (on a steam train) and walk on stilts to all of your classes. With a bit of help from family and some new friends, you'll make it to the top of the class in no time! This charming take on school readiness will delight new school-goers and take a bit of the fear out of those first-day jitters.

Back to School with Bigfoot by Samantha Berger and Martha Brockenbrough

The school year is about to start, and Bigfoot is worried about all the things that could go wrong--but he also remembers that all his friends will be there.

 

Youth fiction:

Mia Mayhem vs. the Super Bully by Kara West

Mia is excited about her first superspeed training class, but a bully on her relay team leads her to lose her shadow and, worse, to snap at her friends.

 

Teen fiction:

Panic by Lauren Oliver

In the poor town of Carp, New York, a group of teens enters a high-stakes game that involves a series of secretive, possibly deadly challenges throughout the summer, with the winner receiving more than $50,000--enough money to start a new life.

 

Adult fiction:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

A darkly funny coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. After a childhood moving from one academic outpost to another with her father (a man prone to aphorisms and meteoric affairs), Blue is clever, deadpan, and possessed of a vast lexicon of literary, political, philosophical, and scientific knowledge--and is quite the cinéaste to boot. In her final year of high school at the élite (and unusual) St. Gallway School in Stockton, North Carolina, Blue falls in with a charismatic group of friends and their captivating teacher, Hannah Schneider. But when the drowning of one of Hannah's friends and the shocking death of Hannah herself lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide--or misguide—her.