Starting school (1988)

Janet and Allan Ahlberg follow a class of new starters through their first school term, from the morning their parents bring them in to the day they head off to school on their own. Few books show the ordinary run of school life so fully, grumpy days included, which makes it reassuringly honest rather than relentlessly cheerful. The level of school is never named, so it suits a British reception class, a preschool or a kindergarten equally well. The busy, detailed pages reward slow looking: ask your child which new classmate they would like to sit next to, and why.