Monster Needs to Go to School

“I know I have a lot to learn, but school is strange and scary./ What if I get bullied since I’m blue and very hairy?” The furry star of the Monster & Me series is back in his sixth picture book, and the unnamed boy he lives with does his best to assuage Monster’s fears. As with many reluctant school goers, Monster “start[s] having fun” after the day gets underway—and he isn’t even the only student with blue hair. Czajak gets in some good, dry-humored jokes (during music class, “Monster figured out the gift of song was not his thing”), which help counterbalance the moralizing tone of a thread involving playground bullying (“I know we’re friends, but teasing’s wrong. It’s something I despise./ No one should be ridiculed. There is no compromise”). Still, kids (or parents) looking for a dose of school-is-great positivity will find it. Ages 2–8. (June)