7 Books to Read With Your Kindergarten Student Before Their First Day of School

While the first day of kindergarten may be harder on the parent than the child, with public schools switching to all-day kindergarten this year, it can't hurt to start the back-to-school conversation now.

Utica Community Schools start Sept. 4, so your kindergarten student has just over a month to get comfortable with the idea of "school."

You can't learn everything from a book, but the Clinton-Macomb Public Library has compiled a pretty impressive list of books that will, at the very least, help ease your student's first-day fears.

Here are seven taken from the top of the list:

• Adventure Annie Goes to Kindergarten by Toni Buzzeo
• Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten? by Audrey Vernick 
• The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyon
• Eliza's Kindergarten Surprise by Alice B. McGinty
• Off to Kindergarten by Tony Johnston
• Kindergarten Countdown by Anna Jane Hays
• Kindergarten Diary by Antoinette Portis

Want more back-to-school reads? Find dozens more on the library's website.

Patch has also teamed up with best-selling author James Patterson to promote reading among children of all ages this summer.

Drawing from his ReadKiddoRead program, Patterson has created four book lists that promise to guide parents to books their children will not only read, but truly enjoy.