Norma Jean, Jumping Bean by Joanna Cole, 1987.
Norma Jean, a kangaroo, loves to jump! She goes hopping and jumping everywhere, all the time.
It’s pretty normal for a young kangaroo, but it sometimes causes problems. She keeps wanting to jump when her teacher wants her to sit still and and listen. Sometimes, accidents happen because she’s jumping around.
Without meaning to, she sometimes plays too rough with her friends because she has so much energy. One day, when her friends stop wanting to play with her after a series of disasters, Norma Jean decides that the only thing to do is to give up jumping. It makes her sad, but she doesn’t want to be thought of as a rough, clumsy klutz, who can’t sit still – a jumping bean.
But, with the school’s field day coming up, Norma Jean realizes that jumping is okay, at certain times and certain places.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 
This was one of my favorite books as a child. As an adult most of the things seem like common sense, jumping on a seesaw is obviously going to be a problem for the person on the other side, but that’s because adults can rationalize, children can’t, they rely more on emotion(some never grow out of it). This story perfectly represents the mind of a child. I also think it is important adults also read this book. To a child it is a story of a child like them who they can relate to. To adults, who have long forgotten what it is like to be a child, it brings them back to that level, to understand how children think, and will help them to connect with their children(if they have them). I am the type of person who would psychoanalyze a character in a children’s book and Norma Jean is much more interesting than she seems if you read between the lines. Princess Lulu Goes to Camp is also good.
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That’s true! At first, Norma Jean has that kind of “all or nothing” mentality because she hasn’t learned self-control or situational awareness. She’s either bouncing off the walls and running over people or doing nothing at all. It takes some life experience for her to realize that there are times and places where she can jump around and times and places where she shouldn’t. She doesn’t have to give up jumping completely if she learns how to pick her times and places and control how much she jumps so she’s not so rough and reckless. Learning self-control and how to behave properly in different situations are important life lessons for all children.
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