- Comedy
- Norma and Belly collection
- Ages 5–8
Norma and Belly
Part of the collectionNorma and Belly→An Eisner Honor-winning squirrel-caper comic series — quick, silly, warm-hearted and pitched perfectly at newly independent readers.
- Books4 / 4
- Arcs1
- Span2020–2023
- StatusOngoing
The series
At a glance.
Mika Song's Norma and Belly series follows two best-friend city squirrels and their crew on a run of low-stakes, high-silliness heists. Each book is built on the same irresistible engine: the squirrels crave a human treat — donuts, pie, pizza, fortune cookies — and hatch an increasingly absurd incognito plan to get it, which promptly goes wrong in all the best ways. Song's loose, expressive ink-and-watercolour panels and short, punchy pacing make these ideal first graphic novels: the reading load is very light, the jokes are physical, and adults reading along laugh too. The peril is purely cartoonish and the real reward, every time, is the crew doing it together. The opener, Donut Feed the Squirrels, is an Eisner Honor winner.
An Eisner Honor-winning squirrel-caper comic series — quick, silly, warm-hearted and pitched perfectly at newly independent readers.
The capers are episodic and can be read in any order; publication order (Donut Feed the Squirrels first) introduces the crew in sequence.
One arc
The shape of the series.
- IStandalone collection arcBooks 1–4 · 2020–2023Low sensitivity
The squirrel capers
Four episodic squirrel heists, each chasing a different human treat.
A fully episodic set of capers, so any book is a fine place to start. Each one runs on the same joyful formula: the squirrels want a snack they can't have — donuts, pie, pizza, fortune cookies — and mount an escalating, incognito scheme to get it, which unravels into physical comedy before the crew pulls together to save the day (or a friend). Mika Song's loose ink-and-watercolour panels and short, punchy pacing keep the reading load very light, making these ideal first graphic novels and a giggle at shared storytime. The stakes stay cartoonish throughout and the warmth is genuine: the squirrels bicker and scheme like a proper comic double act, and the real prize is always doing it together.
Fit check
Right for your reader?
Where the series lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 15
- 17
- 19
- Best fit · 5–8
- Read aloud · 4–7
- Independent · 5–8
Reluctant-reader friendliness
Very high
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Adult crossover
High
Grows with the reader
Not especially
Sensitivity envelope
Low overall, and consistent.
Where it sits
In conversation with other series.
About the author