Three's A Crowd! Norman Didn't Do It! (Yes, He Did!) by Ryan T. Higgins

Norman the porcupine is not really a normal porcupine.

NORMAN'S BEST FRIEND WAS MILDRED.

MILDRED WAS A TREE.

They spend a lot of time together, playing baseball and chess, and birdwatching. (Birds like Mildred, too.) Norman even reads her bedtime stories. They are a perfect pair.

Until one day, Norman noticed a seedling sprouting.

"WHO IS THAT?"

"IT WAS ANOTHER TREE!"

Their perfect pairing was no more. And as the little tree grew, he and Mildred grew close and closer. NOW it was a threesome. And one ominous day, Mildred and the other tree touched branches. Norman is jealous!

THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!

By dark of night, Norman digs up the other tree, deposits him, root ball and all, into a wheelbarrow and pushes it through darkness until he comes to a lake. He rows to an island far out in the middle of the lake, where he digs a hole and re-plants the tree all alone.

THE OTHER TREE WAS GONE.

Norman and Mildred are a twosome again. But their easy companionship is gone. Mildred seems droopy. And Norman knows why.

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

"WHAT IF IT WAS THE WRONG THING TO DO?"

Norman also worries that his perfidy might have been seen by someone else. It was dark, very dark, and he saw no one, so who could have observed his dastardly deed?

OMG!

"OH, NO! THE TREES!"

Norman knows what he must do and he does it, in Ryan T. Higgins' latest, Norman Didn't Do It! (Yes, He Did).

Author Higgins' reformed hero even finds that a treesome threesome can provide a good place to hang his hammock! Ryan T. Higgs is a prolific source of comic hits for the primary set, such as Mother Bruce (Mother Bruce, Book 1) (Mother Bruce Series, 1) and We Don't Eat Our Classmates! (Penelope).

Says Publishers Weekly in a starred review, "...an astute and endearing story of displacement anxiety.... Higgins 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."