It’s time! After almost a full year of my kids being at home, and my daughter starting kindergarten on the computer, it’s time for her to experience what a real classroom is like (without being able to touch anything or play on a playground)! But anything is better than her staying cooped up in this house any longer, even if it is just for a couple of hours per day.

With this new change, comes the fear of the unknown. As my family always does, no one listens to me (don’t worry! You’re going to have fun, I promise!) so we turn to books. The problem is that most of the books about starting Kindergarten have what life was like pre-pandemic. I jumped at the chance to order Heroes Wear Masks when our first Scholastic Book Fair came around.

As much as my daughter pretends to no longer be a Sesame Street fan, she still comes running when I put it on for my son. She still reads the books and sings along to The Monster At the End of the Story special on HBO. Seeing how Elmo was nervous to start school (BELLY BREATHE!) helped her see that it was ok to feel that way. It walked through Elmo being at school and having to wear his mask all day (except when eating, but she won’t eat at school) and washing his hands. He can still be near his friends, but cannot hug them. Everything she will be experiencing. And don’t forget to belly breathe!

With us being a Sesame Street family (we used to attend Sesame Street Live every year – thanks pandemic), we have other books from SS about school. We bought one when she was starting preschool called Off To School.

Unfortunately, she chose to have us read it right after reading Heroes Wear Masks and she caught on to the…similarities. Elmo’s super adventure is just an updated retelling of Off To School. We used this opportunity to talk about how things would have been, but how they are now. We framed it as things she can look forward to next year (hopefully!)

I highly recommend both of these books for starting preschool and kindergarten. Maybe even 1st grade. It gave my daughter tools for how to combat the butterflies in her belly, showed her that everyone is wearing masks (including her friends on Sesame Street) and that she is not the only one who has to wash and sanitize her hands. Plus, it will be a great book to look back on years from now to say “hey – remember how you were the only brand new Kindergarten class that started in a pandemic?”