What a fun book to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a light children's book about a flying, superhero squirrel and his friend, Flora. The characters are all really charming. I loved them all -- all round and evolving. I can imagine reading this with Callie one day. It was fun but also touches on deeper issues in a very approachable way for children. Friendship. Family. Love. Courage. Divorce. Identity. Self-esteem. Fear. Persistence. Dedication. Loyalty.
One thing I loved was the format of the book. Flora narrates most of the book, however occassionally we get a chapter from the squirrel. (And the chapters are extremely short so you feel like you're accomplishing a lot by sitting down and reading 5 chapters!) Every now and then, you get the story in a comic strip style as well. It changes up the text a bit, giving good variety, but also having these tid bits of illustration. It's so well done.
It wasn't until the end of the book when I realized the author was Kate DiCamillo (I just got it on my kindle without too much investigation) -- who wrote Because of Winn Dixie, which I also loved reading last year. She's a skilled children's chapter book author. If these 2 books of hers that I've read are an indication of how great her other books are...I love her.
1 comment:
I love Kate DiCamillo and haven't seen this book of hers! My girls LOVE the Mercy Watson series by her. My 7 year old reads them to me and they are so fun--about a pig named Mercy Watson who is treated like a child--and all of her adventures. Also, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is awesome. I read that one to my 7 year old and we both loved it. :)
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