The calendar year may officially turn over on Jan. 1, but for children and those who live and work with them, “last year” is the school year that just ended, “next year” is the one that will begin in the fall, and summer is that halcyon time in between. It’s always felt odd to be covering back-to-school in late spring, even before school is out in much of the United States. But that’s when the books come out, so that they will be ordered and in place when families start thinking about it, so that’s when we review them.

If it seems kind of out of sync in regular years, it seems just bizarre this year, as school years peter out with distance learning and home schooling, and districts work to anticipate any number of alternative models for fall based on far too many unknowables. And in between the unsatisfying end of this year and the who-knows-what beginning of next year is a summer possibly spent still pent up in the same spaces kids have been in since March.

In this context, a bevy of back-to-school books full of unmasked children and adults sitting together at tables and scrunched up in tight groups on the storytime rugs seems like science fiction, or maybe like those old-time–y books that show kids bouncing in the backs of pickups or riding bikes without helmets. For kids who ache for lost routines and distanced friends, they could be a soothing reminder of a reality they eagerly hope will return. I rather wonder if back-to-school books in the summer mightn’t be a good thing this year. For those kids, here are some of our favorites.

In The Word for Friend, by Aidan Cassie (Farrar, Straus Giroux, June 16), pangolin Kemala and her mama have just arrived in a new country. Kemala is eager to start school until she walks into the classroom to hear everyone speaking a language she doesn’t understand. Kemala promptly rolls into a ball, gradually opening up when she makes friends with an anteater named Ana. Cassie’s animals are perfectly adorable, but what’s really brilliant is her use of Esperanto as the language of Kemala’s new homeland, a strategy that puts most readers in the position of being new kids in Kemala’s class.

Patricia Elam Walker and April Harrison tell a different kind of immigrant story in Nana Akua Goes to School (Schwartz and Wade/Random, June 16). In this sweet tale, Zura is a little apprehensive about Grandparents Day at school, worrying that her American classmates will react badly to Nana Akua’s facial markings, not understanding their significance to the Akan people of Ghana. Together, Zura and Nana Akua plan an introduction to their customs, using Zura’s quilt and its Adinkra symbols as a vehicle. Harrison’s lovingly rendered collage art pulses with life and love.

In Kindergarten Hat, by Janet Lawler and illustrated by Geraldine Rodriguez (Little Bee, June 9), Carlos, an enthusiastic young gardener, is worried about starting school. A well-timed letter from his teacher gives him a way to prepare, and he happily heads off to school with one of his daisies for her hat. When calamity strikes, her flexibility helps him over his distress. Carlos’ earnestness and anxiety are depicted with warmth and understanding, wrapping both him and readers in a big reassuring hug. 

Share them as nostalgia or as aspiration. And here’s hoping that the 2021 back-to-school books can resume their usual duty: marking the turn of the year with reassurance of routine.

Vicky Smith is a young readers’ editor.