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.