There's a box in the hall and a knot in your child's stomach, and somewhere in the next few weeks they have to walk into a room where they don't know a single face. This is a shelf for exactly that. There's a picture book to read on the couch the night before, a novel to hand a worried older child, a funny one for the child who's just plain mad about it, and any single one does the job. Pick the one that fits the child in front of you and the week you're actually in.
Any one of these eight, by itself, is enough, and nothing is wasted if your child reads just one. What holds them together is a single job: to be good company for a child who's leaving something behind or walking into something new. The spread is on purpose. Three gentle picture books for the littlest (a raccoon who doesn't want to leave his mama, a worrier facing the first day, a mouse teased for her name), two more for slightly older children (a new girl deciding whether to keep her real name, and Alexander, who is absolutely, positively NOT moving). Then, for readers ready for a novel, three longer stories about being the new one — funny, honest, and ending in belonging. Read the short heads-up on each and hand over the one that matches the child and the week you're in.