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PRESCHOOL
Higgins, Ryan T.

Norman Didn't Do It!: (Yes, He Did.)

48 pp. | Disney-Hyperion | September, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-368-02623-9 $17.99
(2) PS Porcupine Norman likes that it's just him and his best friend Mildred, a tree (yup, a tree), so when a new tree sprouts one day next to Mildred, Norman naturally gets a bit defensive: "And WHO is THAT?!" Before, it was Norman and Mildred who "did everything together" (e.g., play ball, watch birds); now, Norman watches as "Mildred and the other tree grew closer" and worries, "What if Mildred LIKED the other tree MORE...?!" Although the psychodrama is all in Norman's head, he devises an elaborate plan to dig up the sapling in the dead of night and take it "very, very far away." Yet things are no longer the same with Mildred, leading to a change of heart for Norman; his guilt guides him "to try and undo what he had done" and accept now being a trio of friends. But will everyone be happy with that arrangement? In typical ­Higgins style, a humorous twist at the end is just one of many entertaining touches, including the premise of ­porcupine-and-tree best friends and their one-sided interactions. Varied layouts in the thick-lined digital illustrations and humorous ­speech-bubble dialogue ("I have hit rock bottom!" Norman says upon falling into the hole he created when uprooting the sapling) play off and expand upon the ­matter-of-fact ­narration. Rotund little Norman's many expressions and movements add personality and charm, making him more lovable than naughty, akin to Higgins's protagonist in his Penelope Rex books (most recently, We Will Rock Our Classmates, rev. 7/20).
Reviewer: Cynthia K. Ritter | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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