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

by Ryan Higgins, Ryan T. Higgins (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Have you ever had a best friend that was a tree? If not, then you may not fully appreciate the level of love and devotion Norman, a porcupine, has for his best friend Mildred, a tree. From bestselling author-illustrator and B&N favorite Ryan T. Higgins comes Norman Didn’t Do It!. If you love Mother Bruce or Dragons Love Tacos, you’ll fall in love with Norman immediately. Silly, relatable and full of heart, Norman Didn’t Do It! is sure to become a heavily requested book for storytime.

Ryan T. Higgins, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Mother Bruce series, delivers a contemporary tale of friendship.
Norman is a porcupine. Mildred is a tree. Norman and Mildred are best friends. Just the two of them. And only the two of them. But when a surprise pops up, life will never be the same again.
Ryan T. Higgins’ signature wit, whimsy, and humor brilliantly explore the depths and complexities of friendship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781368026239
Publisher:	Disney Press
Publication date:	09/07/2021
Series:	Mother Bruce Series
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	38,852
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Ryan T. Higgins (ryanthiggins.com) is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling Mother Bruce, which received the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor; Hotel Bruce; BE QUIET!; and Bruce's Big Move. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids and lots of pets.

Ryan T. Higgins (ryanthiggins.com) is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling Mother Bruce, which received the E. B. White Read-Aloud Award and the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor; Hotel Bruce; BE QUIET!; and Bruce's Big Move. He lives in Maine with his wife and kids and lots of pets.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/05/2021

This astute and endearing story of displacement anxiety starts with an unusual dyad: Norman, a wide-eyed porcupine, and Mildred, a tree. As the story alternates between short narration and speech balloons filled with Norman’s heart-on-his-sleeve monologues, it becomes clear that while Mildred neither talks nor moves, Norman feels that he is in a reciprocal, supportive relationship (“Yay! You win!” says Norman after somehow engaging Mildred in chess). But when a seedling springs up nearby, Norman becomes obsessed with the idea that he’s no longer Mildred’s favorite. “Under the cover of night,” he goes to a very dark (and funny) place—transplanting the little tree to a remote island before, soon enough, regretting it. (“What if digging up your friend’s friend in the middle of the night and taking that friend very, very far away was NOT the right thing to do?”) Digital cartoon vignettes show a keen sense of comic pacing—Higgins (We Will Rock Our Classmates) knows exactly when to go in for a close-up and focus on Norman’s comic sturm und drang. The porcupine is a protagonist that readers should find deeply relatable: reveling in unconditional love, prone to impulsiveness and rumination, and absolutely capable of self-redemption. Ages 3–5. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2021-06-29
A newcomer tests the friendship between a porcupine and his beloved tree, Mildred.

Being well used to playing games with his silent, leafy partner, conducting one-sided conversations, and having her all to himself, Norman is outraged when a sapling springs up nearby: “And WHO is THAT?!” Seeing his best friend drifting away (figuratively), Norman is soon driven by anger and insecurity to dig up his leafy rival in the dead of night and cart it very, very far away—only to be wracked by both fear of being found out and, more worthily, guilt a little later. “I have hit rock bottom!” he declares, falling into the still-open hole next to Mildred, and so hastens off to fetch back the new tree and accommodate himself to being one of three…or, as Higgins suggests in a final scene, maybe more. A tubby figure with wide eyes and a worried expression, Norman strongly resembles a plush toy or inexcusably cute toddler in the mix of large cartoon panels and full-page scenes. Younger children, even those without new sibs or other strangers horning into the family, will have no trouble seeing him as a stand-in or understanding his upset. Along with appreciating the sly Giving Tree vibe and the comical way the narrative and the balloon-enclosed dialogue play off each other, older audiences may see a bit of a message for them, too.

A clever, funny prod to do the right thing when changes take root. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews