Meeting the Norm: Normal Norman by Tara Lazar

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME NARRATING A BOOK. I'M A BIT NERVOUS.

MY ASSIGNMENT TODAY IS TO DEFINE THE WORLD "NORMAL."

Our student scientist is all set to do field observations. She's got the magnifying glass. She's got the clipboard. She's got the lab coat. And she's got a subject for her observations.

He's a gorilla.

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE NORMAN. HE WILL HELP ME DEMONSTRATE THE WORD NORMAL.

Norman is clearly a gorilla. What might be a normal gorilla diet?

Bananas, of course.

Except Norman displays a clear preference for... pizza!

Our junior scientist tries to induce Norman to try a banana. She even peels it for him!

"NO--OOO--OOO!"

Wait a minute! Norman speaks English? Don't normal gorillas grunt?

Norman refuses to sleep in a tree. He prefers climbing into his bunk bed! Our young scientists offers him a pile of nice, fresh leaves and branches. Norman hunts up his plush toy anteater.

"I CAN'T SLEEP WITHOUT MR. SNUFFLES!" NORMAN PROTESTS.

"AN ANIMAL WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? THIS IS NOT NORMAL!"

Norman simply doesn't conform to the norm!

Our young scientist can't argue with her raw data. Maybe... she needs to alter her hypothesis!

Could normal be impossible to define? Sometimes it is, in Tara Lazar's Normal Norman (Sterling Books, 2016). Norman may not be your normal gorilla, but he's a lot of fun to hang out with, as our heroine discovers as she rides away with abnormal Norman, a friendly purple and gold gorilla, on his mount of choice, a rhinoceros with bells on his horns! Our novice animal scientist seems to be the only conventional character in this imaginative tale of abnormal Norman, illustrated with appropriate outside-the-box page design, fonts, and colors by S. Britt. A creative look at a walk on the wild side.