'Nora the Mind Reader’ deals sweetly with unintended consequences. In this case, the catalyst is words. When kindergartner Nora is insulted by a classmate’s comment about her “flamingo legs,” mother gives her a magic wand to look through in order to see people’s thoughts as they speak. Using a photo-collaged–in pink soap-bubble wand like a pair of fancy spectacles, Nora sees not only the traditional speech bubbles with everyone’s commentary but also a soap bubble with a more insightful thought, thus reading the mind of each person.

When Nora holds it up to her eye, she sees silvery thought-bubbles revealing that ‘people don't always say what they think, or say what they think they are saying.’ Now Nora can perceive that a boy who says, ‘I don't feel like playing’ is really thinking, ‘I don't feel like losing’ and that a girl who snaps, ‘You ask too many questions’ is, in fact, thinking, insecurely, ‘You're so smart.’

Armed with these insights, Nora speaks with straightforward kindness to the flamingo boy, who, it turns out, has a crush on her. As she gains confidence, Nora realises that the key to social interactions is understanding that what people say aloud is not always what they really think.