“Jack had dinner early,
Father played with Kate,
Jack needed burping,
So Nora had to wait.

First she banged the window,
Then she slammed the door,
Then she dropped her sister’s marbles on the kitchen floor.

“Quiet!” said her father.
“Hush!” said her mum.
“Nora!” said her sister,
“Why are you so dumb?”

So the tale unfolds. And when a small, middle child doesn’t get enough warm fuzzies, she settles for cold pricklies! The story is about a young mouse, Nora, tucked between a baby brother that requires a lot of attention and an older sister that gets it. Your heart reaches out to Nora as her frustration level increases. Finally, she is driven to a rash act, and the family learns a valuable lesson.

Noisy Nora was first published by Rosemary Wells in 1973. The book is still available for purchase, although Rosemary Wells re-illustrated the story in bolder colors and in a larger book format. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Not only is the text fun to read, and the pictures are delightful to parents and children alike, the message is clear; children WILL get attention, whether it is positive or negative.

Since this is one of my favorite books, I want to turn it into a Book Nook book with a means of extending the story for children’s play. The first 2 books I featured, Caps for Sale and Have You Seen My Duckling, both utilized wood cut characters or props. Since not everyone does wood working, I wanted to do something different with this book. Anyone have any brilliant ideas… hey, I’d even take well meaning half baked ideas! So… what would you like to see me do with this story? I have a couple of ideas myself, but it’s always fun to be driven by our readers!

Follow along with these posts to make a Noisy Nora finger puppet family.