NORMAN AND THE SMELL OF ADVENTURE

Norman the porcupine yearns for new experiences, but his best friend Mildred, a tree, has other ideas.

Fun though it is to read on a tree branch or watch birds together, Norman’s proposal to seek out fresh experiences goes over like a lead balloon with Mildred, who’s stuck in place. In the wake of an angry tiff, Norman marches off in search of adventure, following its scent down roads, over rivers, through swamps, and up mountains. Afterward, because Norman is used to carrying on both sides of any conversation with his tart but nonverbal plant buddy (“What?! I am NOT shaped like a gumdrop!”), he has no trouble explaining to a potted cactus he finds by the roadside that it’s perfectly fine to try different things, but it’s time to go home because he misses his friend and, anyway, he’s running out of snacks. The ensuing happy reunion ensures that whenever the “smell of adventure” tempts Norman into future excursions, he’ll always come back to a warm welcome: “What do you mean I need a bath?!” In the bright, simply drawn cartoon panels, Mildred is surprisingly expressive for a tree, and Norman really does look something like a gumdrop.

A funny and sensitive exploration of friendship dynamics.