Norman: The Slug with the Silly Shell

I realise that I must be alone in not warming particularly to Barry the Fish with Fingers, Hendra’s previous picture book, but the children I read it to loved it and it certainly merited all the acclaim in their eyes.

Norman: The Slug with the Silly Shell, however, completely sold me to Hendra’s skill as storyteller and to her illustrations which are so engaging that even a slug becomes attractive! Hendra approaches her narrative with a lively wit so that the reader identifies, via action sequences and lively juxtapositions, with the slug and his increasingly creative stratagems. Norman’s antics as he tries to muscle in with the snails and his ingenious attempts to make a shell for himself are superbly illustrated in a bold, decorative style and the story is carefully crafted to build anticipation and humour.