School Daze! Five Little Monkeys Shopping for School by Eileen Christelow

"Stick with me," Mama says, "and don't go wandering off."

Mama issues her marching orders and sets off with her five little monkeys to shop for new school clothes in what turns out to be an impromptu back-to-school review of basic number facts as well.

Things start to get complicated as one little monkey wanders off into the toys and books department. When Mama counts heads, she comes up with 5 - 4 = 1 missing monkey! Before rounding up the missing monkey, Mama firmly issues an order to the remaining four to try on the clothes while she finds her missing monkey.

"AND DON'T GO WANDERING OFF."

By the time Mama brings back the missing monkey, however, two of the four have gotten thirsty and gone out to find a drink. Mama's count: 1 monkey back, 2 monkeys trying on clothes = 3. Now 5 - 3 = 2 missing monkeys. Mama orders the three to stay put!

But as Mama tries to locate her two little missing monkeys, one of the three monkeys takes a potty break and the remaining two hook up with old classmates. Meanwhile, other Papa Monkeys and Grandma Monkeys are looking for their little missing monkeys, too, and the math problems look like a homework page. 7 - 3 = 4? 5 - 4 = 1?

At last the saleslady has to make an announcement on the loudspeaker.

"Will ALL the little monkeys who are missing mamas, papas, sisters, and brothers please come to the children's clothing department RIGHT NOW!"

With her own five monkeys and their brand-new school wardrobes finally in hand, Mama herds her brood toward the car, not noticing that one little monkey is inviting a friend to come along home to play. When Mama pulls out of the parking lot, she discovers she has a new problem: 5 little monkeys + 1 more little monkey = TOO MANY MONKEYS!

In its revised board book edition, Five Little Monkeys Shopping for School (A Five Little Monkeys Story) (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), with its good-natured but harried Mama and those effervescent little monkeys, is just in time for back-to-school shopping.

At the Bottom of the Big Slide: A Friend for Henry by Jenn Bailey

It isn't always easy to find a friend.

In Classroom Six, second left down the hall, Henry was looking for a friend.

But Vivianne, who shares his easel in art, is like a kaleidescope--all mixed-up colors. Even her fingernails are each a different color.

"My mommy painted them!" Vivianne waved her hands too close to Henry's face.

"Painting on people is against the rules!" said Henry.

But when Henry tries to befriend Vivianne by painting rainbows on her shoes, she gets really angry! Henry doesn't understand. And when Henry arranges the carpet tiles in a perfect pattern for story time, boisterous Samuel leaps onto them and scatters the squares, claiming it is his magic carpet. And when Henry logically points at the label which clearly shows they came from Rug World, Samuel refuses to listen.

At snack time Jayden takes three crackers, not two, like Mrs. Magoon said. Riley makes a muddy worm nest right on the swing seats at recess. Nobody seems to follow the rules.

At free time, Henry sits alone,watching the class goldfish, Gilly, swim around in his bowl. He's alone, too. But then Katie comes over. She likes Gilly.

"Want to play blocks?" Henry asks. He adds, "I don't like triangles."

And Katie's good with a triangle-free construction, in Jenn Bailey's A Friend for Henry (Chronicle Books, 2019), and it looks like he and Katie are going to be the kind of friends who can make and keep each other's special rules. Finding a good friend is a bit like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, and finding the right match can be hard, as shown in this insightful story of making friends that can share and still respect differences.

Mika Song's gentle black-line illustrations add depth to this account of the personal accommodation that friendship requires. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Whether on the spectrum or not, friends don't have to share everything, just enough, and this book sweetly provides."