What is Normal? Don’t Ask Norman! #NormalNormanBlogTour

Welcome to the Normal Norman Blog Tour!  Today, I’m going to share a little about the featured title with you guys.

Norman is a sweet, huggable orangutan whose friend is a junior scientist and the narrator of this book.  Her assignment is to define the word normal, and she’s chosen Norman as her subject because he’s supposed to be the most average animal on earth.  Upon examining Norman, however, she finds that he’s not quite as ordinary as she thought.  He talks, he eats pizza, and he sleeps in a bunk bed with his stuffed anteater Mr. Scruffles.  Yeah, Norman is definitely a different kind of orangutan.

At first, the young scientist is distraught over having failed to show her readers what normal really is, but she soon discovers that “normal” just doesn’t have a clear definition and that that’s okay.  Everyone is unique and special, and being yourself is what’s most important.  Sounds like a very successful research assignment to me!

You and your little ones will fall in love with Norman’s humor, charm, and big heart, and you’ll all cheer when you see the junior scientist embracing her own uniqueness.  The colorful, retro-style illustrations really add to the playful mood of the story and they drew my kids in right away.  If you like an entertaining story with lots of visual appeal that also happens to teach a valuable life lesson, Normal Norman is right up your alley.  If, like me, you put books in your kids’ Easter baskets every year, this is absolutely perfect for that!  Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

Tara Lazar lives in Basking Ridge, NJ, with her husband, two daughters, and 2,749 stuffed animals. She’s the author of The Monstore, I Thought This Was a Bear Book (both Simon & Schuster), and Little Red Gliding Hood (Random House). Tara founded Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), an annual online writing event held on her award-winning blog at taralazar.com, which has hundreds of registered users and receives tens of thousands of blog hits.

S.britt (AKA Stephan Britt) first developed his zeal for drawing in childhood, when he drew on anything and everything that wasn’t dripping wet. His first picture book, Over In the Hollow (Chronicle), was a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best. Stephan lives in Portland, OR. Visit him online at sbritt.com.

Make sure to visit the other blogs on the Normal Norman tour by following along with the graphic below.  There’s a lot more fun coming up, including activities, Q&As, giveaways, and more!