Flora & Ulysses: the illuminated adventures / Kate DiCamillo / 232 pages

Well, this is just a luscious book in which the story is told in illustration and text.  DiCamillo is amazing and her latest book is definitely Newbery worthy.  She tells the story of Flora a girl obsessed with comic book heroes who saves a squirrel who has been sucked up into an Ulysses Super-suction, Multi-terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner.  The squirrel is changed by his experience and becomes a super hero. Flora is a fragile child...one whose parents have split and a child who believes her mother loves a lamp more than her daughter.  Indeed, her mother seems not to understand her at all.  Flora is a girl who is afraid to hope and constantly reminds herself just to observe.  There's humor, pathos, intriguing, quirky characters, a plot with adventure, and a satisfying conclusion.  The book itself is beautifully designed.  The illustrations by K.G.Campbell are wonderful.  This book will make you want to hug someone.