The best picture books about new beginnings

Emilia’s world has just turned upside down.

Moving to the big city feels even worse.

When she must go to a new school, Emilia becomes afraid.

Will her new class be everything she fears?

Or will she get a big surprise?

This heartwarming story reveals the anxiety children feel when faced with new situations and shows children that new experiences bring many possibilities.

My Big Welcome is the perfect book for every child moving to a new school, starting a new class, or dealing with change.

Inspired by actual events, My Big Welcome shows that life can offer much more… show more.

A beautifully tender story touching on the range of emotions immigrants may feel when leaving their home countries – excitement and sorrow, fear and courage.

Anita watches the dragons high above her as she hops from one cement roof to another in her village in the Dominican Republic. But being the valiant princesa she is, she never lets them scare her. Will she be brave enough to enter the belly of the beast and take flight to new adventures?

A Barnes & Noble Bookseller Favorite. A BookTrust Book of the Month. A Love Reading For Schools Book of the Month.… show more.

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.

There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.

Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael Lopez's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when… show more.

This exuberant celebration of the first day of school illustrated by award-winning illustrator Frank Morrison will have every kid cheering for school to begin!

Summer is over, and this little girl has got the school spirit! She hears the school spirit in the bus driving up the street--VROOM, VROOM!--and in the bell sounding in the halls--RING-A-DING! She sings the school spirit in class with her friends--ABC, 123!

The school spirit helps us all strive and grow. What will you learn today?

Don't miss these other exuberant titles:
I Got the Rhythm
I Got the Christmas Spirit

The first book in the best-selling, award-winning 'Bear and the Piano' trilogy.

Winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, Illustrated Book Category for 2016

Over 120,000 copies have been sold of The Bear and the Piano in the UK.

One day, a young bear stumbles upon something he has never seen before in the forest. As time passes, he teaches himself how to play the strange instrument, and eventually the beautiful sounds are heard by a father and son who are picnicking in the woods. The bear goes with them on an incredible journey to New York, where his piano… show more.