Kids, ready to hit the books? As classes begin, make time for that vital school ritual: shopping. To navigate the seemingly infinite amount of back-to-school goods we homed in on a few essentials for students of all ages
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Even little ones have a lot to schlep around. Ship them off to school with books, pencils and mom’s homemade baloney sandwiches stored in neat looking totes.
Wolf backpack
$118 at Oilily, 520 N. Michigan Ave., 312-527-5747, and 2090 Northbrook Ct., Northbrook, 847-562-0401. www.oilily-world.com.
Fleurville Lunch Pak
$35 at M & Em’s, 490 N Main St Glen Ellyn, 630-469-6040.
Pencil cases,
$1.89 each at Blick Art Materials, 1574 N. Kingsbury St., 312-573-0110 and 1755 Maple Ave., Evanston, 847-425-9100. www.dickblick.com.
JUNIOR HIGH
Whose locker looks the coolest? Think out of the big, metal box with accessories that are both fun and functional.
Mini Lookers
Locker Pocket $4.99 at The Container Store. www.thecontainerstore.com
Animal Grippers with suction-cup backs
$4.99 each at The Container Store.
Magnetic Tic Tac Toe
$6.95 at CB2, 3757 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-755-3900 and 800 W. North Ave., 312-787-8329. www.cb2.com.
HIGH SCHOOL
Taking notes can be fun (really!). Give boring old loose-leaf paper and pencil sharpening a rest with out-of-theordinary writing accessories.
Stanford Press blank notebooks
$5 large, $4 small at Paper Boy, 1351 W. Belmont Ave., 773-388-8811.
Animal-print erasers
15 cents each at The Learning Tree, 4419 N. Ravenswood Ave., 773-769-3737.
Foray liquid graphite pencils
three for $3 at Office Depot. www.officedepot.com.
COLLEGE
Time to fixate on fashion. And there’s no denying the magnetism of the collegeprep look. This year, it’s all about bold colors and mixing and matching.
Kenzie shirt
$52 at Eurotrash, 2136 W. Division St., 773-828-8198.
Sweater
$145 at Lacoste. www.lacoste.com.
Marc Ecko blazer
$165 at Marshall Field’s. www.fields.com.
Timbuk2 messenger bag $60 at Active Endeavors. www.activeendeavors .com.
Special Edition Boot-Cut jeans
$29.50 at Old Navy. www.oldnavy.com.
