“Didn’t didn’t do it. Neither did doesn’t. Doesn’t didn’t do it because Didn’t wouldn’t. Wouldn’t couldn’t because Shouldn’t can’t. And Can’t didn’t do it since Didn’t doesn’t.”

So begins the story of a group of friends whose attempt to build a treehouse gets every bit as tangled as the tongue-twisting wordplay that describes their efforts. Running into one problem after another—and never mind that there is a whole family of birds already living in the tree—they come to understand just how puzzling it is to try to work together to accomplish the simplest thing.

 

Colorfully illustrated by the legendary cartoonist Gahan Wilson, Didn’t Do It is hardly a story of abject failure, but instead suggests the path to finishing what we start isn’t always the one we set out on.