DiCamillo, Kate. Flora & Ulysses. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2013. 978-0763660406. 240p. $17.99. Gr. 3+
Kate DiCamillo has done it again: written a can’t-put-it down, funny, and heartwarming tale of love and acceptance, and again she won the Newbery Medal. Flora is an eccentric, 10-year-old “natural born cynic.” Her mom is a romance novelist who disdains Flora’s love of comic books, specifically Incandesto! which has taught Flora just about anything she could possibly ever need to know about life. This wealth of knowledge comes in handy when her neighbor’s super-powered vacuum sucks up and almost kills a squirrel. Said squirrel – who Flora dubs Ulysses – survives the brush with death and becomes a superhero, able to fly, type poetry, and communicate with nods and facial expressions. But most importantly he loves Flora dearly and their adventures change everyone around them. This book is sweet, quirky, and laugh-out-loud funny. While those as young as 8 will enjoy it, DiCamillo’s nuanced characters and situations will appeal to all ages through adults. Highly recommended!
Fiction, Magical Realism              Kathie Jackson, Plymouth Meeting Friends School