Norman, The Slug with the Silly Shell

I spent so long yesterday reading Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell that I didn't get chance to review it. Written by Sue Hendra of Barry the Fish with Fingers fame, Norman is a wonderfully silly book about how you can be anything you want to be with a little ingenuity.

 

Norman the slug idolises the snails and their wonderful shells. He longs to join in with their games, but can't because his squishy body is unstackable. Norman takes it on himself to fashion his own shell from an old donut.Having done so, he inadvertently saves the lives of his new friends.

Daughter adored this book. After having read it to her three times, she snatched it off me and made Husband read it to her too. After her nap, it was the first thing she went for, stroking Norman on all the pages, finally kissing the cover.To begin with, keeping her attention on anything other than the shiny front page was difficult but after a single read through she was hooked.

The 'moral' of this story is somewhat ambiguous. I took it to be an overwhelmingly positive one -  Norman wanted a shell and used his imagination to create one - the old Back to the Future mantra of, "If you put  your mind to it, you can accomplish anything". There are those, however, who will inevitably say that it's a book about needing to conform in order to have friends. Until Norman gets a shell, no one is interested in being his friend but once he matches the rest of his peers, he is accepted. I suppose how you take it depends on your world view.

In any case, Norman the Slug with a Silly Shell was very well received in our home. Now, if you'll excuse me, guess what I have to read. Again.