Open Thread: The best back-to-school books

Let us know which books get the highest marks for their accounts of the great return to teaching and tests

September is here, and the summer – what there was of it – is officially over. Nights are drawing in, trees are taking on their autumn colours and parents and children across the land are gearing up for the great annual return to school: sewing on name tags, buying new stationery and/or weeping tears of horror and despair at the thought of another term.

So tell us: which books remind you of your own school days, which best conjure the back-to-school feeling, and which would you buy for your own children, to encourage them out of the door? Suggestions from the desk include New Boy by William Sutcliffe, What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge and of course each and every one of Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series. What about you? What will you be giving to school-bound youngsters this month? (And if you're after a place from which to buy them, might we recommend that you take a look at our marvellous map, created with the help of the fine folk at National Book Tokens, of the best bookshops in the UK?)

Children and teenagers
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