Big Bright Feelings: Perfectly Norman

What’s it about?

The story.

Norman wakes up one morning with wings. Wonderful, extraordinary wings. He is delighted, for about thirty seconds. Then he thinks about what everyone will think. He puts on a very large coat. He goes to school and tries to be perfectly normal. He is not: he has wings under his coat and every page, his effort to conceal them is visible to the reader if not to the other characters. When a windy day makes hiding impossible, Norman must make a choice. Tom Percival's debut in the Big Bright Feelings series uses the magical-realist device that defines the whole: strong feelings, and the things that make us different, are given a physical form that makes them visible and discussable. The wings stand for whatever makes a child feel different, a hidden difficulty, an identity they're not sure is welcome, a quality they've been told to suppress. Percival's illustrations are warm and expressive, and the resolution, Norman embraces his wings; other children turn out to have their own, is earned rather than easy. The book that begins one of British picture books' most practically useful series.