Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate Di Camillo

Holy unanticipated occurrences! A cynic meets an unlikely superhero in a genre-breaking new novel by master storyteller Kate DiCamillo.

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.

Here is the author's website - http://www.katedicamillo.com/

I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love by Nancy Tillman

There are things about you quite unlike any other.
Things always known by your father or mother.
So if you decide to be different one day,
no worries… I’d know you anyway.

Every child is special and unique, but every child also loves to dream of being something different. In I'd Know You Anywhere, My Love, bestselling author and artist Nancy Tillman has created another heartfelt masterpiece celebrating the joys of imagination, and the comfort of always knowing that "you are loved."

The author has a beautiful website - check it out . . . http://nancytillman.com/

Strong Characters . . .

When reading a book, it is so important for children to be able to articulate the traits of a character to make connections between other aspects of the story such as setting, events, problems, etc.  Here are some words to use to generate conversation.

What a great conversation starters with kids? When? Why? How?

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of 

library. 

Jorge Luis Borges

I was reading the dictionary. I thought it was a poem about everything.  
Steven Wright