Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

From Goodreads,

"It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry—and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. 

From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format—a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell."

Goodreads - Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Awards and Nominations:

• National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2013)
• Newbery Medal (2014)
• Alabama Library Association Children's Book of the Year Nominee for 4-5 (2014)
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2015)
• Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Grades 3-6 (2015)

There are some books on the Newbery Award winning list that I've struggled to find.  I try to find the books used to save some money.  While I was searching the shelves at Saver's I was able to snatch up this wonderful book.  I was so excited because I had yet to find it used.  

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures tells the story of a young girl named Flora who wants to spend her summer reading comic books, despite her mother's protests.  But one day chaos happens outside when a squirrel gets sucked up into a vacuum.  Flora helps the dear little squirrel, but soon realizes he isn't just a regular squirrel anymore.  The squirrel she names Ulysses, has amazing strength and the ability to understand Flora along with other shocking skills. Flora and her superhero squirrel become an unlikely duo with a challenge to conquer the arch nemesis.  

There are some books on the Newbery winners list that I wonder how they received the award because I didn't feel it was notable or worthy of holding such a high honor.  There are other books that I absolutely agree with the decision for it to be a winner.  This book is one of them.  It absolutely deserved to be the 2014 Newbery Award winning book.  One of the things that I absolutely adored was that we saw the story unfold through both Flora and Ulysses.  It gave the book another dimension and truly allowed the reader to see and understand what Ulysses the squirrel was thinking and feeling.  It really showed how much Flora loved Ulysses, and how much Ulysses loved Flora.

This book has a wonderful message about learning how to love and accept people for who they are.  Two of the biggest transformations were Flora and her mother.  Her mother really struggled with flora being "normal", but by the end of the book she was accepting Flora for who she really was.  Flora claimed she was a cynic and that she didn't believe in the romance novels her mother wrote.  But the more time she spent with Ulysses the more she loved him.  Flora learned to accept that it is okay to love and to hope.  I think that it is important for kids to learn that they should accept people for who they are and to love them.  And honestly, many adults would benefit from reading this book about acceptance.

I've read a couple of books by Kate DiCamillo and this one did not disappoint.  This book was absolutely wonderful with an excellent balance of traditional book with comic book style graphics mixed in.  I think that this would be a wonderful read aloud for my students.  I think they would honestly love this book and the idea of a superhero squirrel.  I give this 5 stars and recommend it to teachers and third through fifth grade aged students.