Flora & Ulysses

Flora & Ulysses
THE ILLUSTRATED ADVENTURES

Kate DiCamillo
Newbery Medal 2014

A fun book, whimsical and cartoony but poignant. A girl with divorced parents, and a distracted, disinterested mother, saves a squirrel from a vacuum cleaner and their adventures begin. Great vocabulary, some of it comic book creative, and parts of the story are shown in comic style panels. Good read aloud.

The Magician's Elephant

The Magician's Elephant

by Kate DiCamillo (2009)

Old fashioned, in a good way -- beautiful illustrations, magic, soldiers, orphans finding/being found by childless couple... It really does have an old time fairy tale feel to it, and the art is a big part of it (almost has a Hugo Cabret look).

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux

Kate DiCamillo (2003)
Newbery Medal 2004

Our hero is the runt of the litter, but has magical gifts. He falls in love with the Princess and finds the honor and bravery within himself to save her, and restore soup to the kingdom. I thought the portrayal of the rats as spiteful filthy creatures was uncalled for, and this book should be banned. The fat, deaf, slow servant girl was hilarious though.