Happy Back to School from Pencil City, USA

Note: the fine American companies mentioned below offered neither money nor free merchandise in exchange for inclusion in this article. If you see a product here, it's simply because we like it and think you will too.

Almost September already? Seems like just yesterday the halls echoed with Alice Cooper's immortal refrain: "Schoooool's out! For! Summer!" Ever notice how few rock anthems celebrate going back to school?

Maybe I'll write one. Something to sing to my 9-year-old when I drag him out of bed each morning. I'll start with a sense-memory: the intoxicating smell of a freshly sharpened Dixon Ticonderoga #2.

Except that's not something the lad will ever experience. The storied pencil maker was purchased by an Italian company in 2005 and has since abandoned its U.S. factory, as well as the stringent quality control that made it worthy of the title "America's Pencil."

Fortunately we have another contender: Shelbyville, Tennessee's Musgrave Pencil Company. The fifth-generation family business makes more than 70 million pencils a year in the town known as Pencil City USA. A standout model is the incredibly aromatic yet affordable Tennessee Red, fashioned from locally sourced cedar. I store mine in my sweater drawer, where they do double duty keeping the moths away.

What makes a good school backpack? Most parents have one priority: that it survive its nine-month tour without needing to be replaced. Red Oxx makes one that might even take you all the way through grade school: the K-12 Kat Pack. The father-son duo who founded Red Oxx in 1986 both served as parachute riggers in the Marines, a job in which you live by the motto "I will be sure, always." It's a motto Red Oxx also applies to its handmade products, as anyone who's benefitted from the company's excellent customer service can tell you.

An "artisanal" PB&J or a crisp Gala apple deserves better than a cheap plastic bag. Support American ingenuity and pack their lunches in Zip Top's reusable silicone pouches. Unlike most pouches, Texas-based Zip Top's are free-standing and stay open. You can put them in the freezer, microwave, and dishwasher. They also contain no BPA, lead, PVC or phthalates — which leaves more room for jerky.