FISH DON'T GO TO SCHOOL

Like many kids, Henry wants to wear his favorite outfit on the first day of school.

Unlike other children, however, Henry enjoys wearing an oversize fish costume that makes him look like his beloved goldfish, Marigold. His face peeps through the mask, and the costume contains holes for his legs, but everything else is covered. Despite his parents’ apprehension and his own concerns, Henry goes ahead with his unusual get-up; after all, it feels like “wearing a hug.” No one sits next to Henry at circle time, but things improve as the day progresses. Slowly, he finds himself shedding parts of his costume: He gives a classmate named Lucy his fins so he can more easily use scissors while working on an art project, he lets Mr. Blake hold his tail at recess, and he trades the fish head for Lucy’s cat ears at storytime. Eventually, Henry’s down to just a scaly orange vest, which has become his new treasured item. Pilutti’s understated multimedia illustrations pair well with the text, a mix of narration and realistic dialogue presented in speech bubbles. Laudably, while the adults in Henry’s life express doubts about his wardrobe choices, they give him the space he needs to figure things out; though his journey’s a bit rocky, it comes to a quietly triumphant conclusion. Henry is pale-skinned; his classmates are diverse.

An offbeat and empathetic take on handling first-day-of-school anxieties.