Nora the Mind Reader (review)

In this creative Israeli import, when young Nora is insulted by a boy in her class who says she has "flamingo legs," Nora's mom comes to the rescue with a hug and a "magic wand" (depicted as a lovely mauve bubble wand). Nora is surprised to find that when she looks through the holes in the magic wand, she is suddenly able to see the true meanings behind people's sometimes contrary words. When she looks again at the boy who insulted her, for example, he says, "Hi there, flamingo legs," but his thoughts are "When you're around, everything looks pink." After much practice, Nora realizes she can now "make magic without a wand" (e.g., see the truth behind people's words). Gordon-Noy inventively depicts a difficult but important concept by having a person's actual words appear in a standard white speech bubble, while their true thoughts are written inside a pale gray, photo-realistic illustration of a soap bubble, thus connecting the inner thoughts to the soap bubble "magic wand." The mixed-media illustrations (some presented against a background of muted Hebrew print) are attractive in their combination of drawing, painting, and collaged materials and integral to the simple, straightforward text, while the scribbly-haired Nora is an appealing young heroine. Creative adults armed with a stack of bubble wands could easily use this as a springboard for a lesson on emotions and thoughts vs. words or actions.