Flora and Ulysses; The Illuminated Adventures

Hmmm--where to start with this book?  Let's try the main characters.  Flora is a young girl, living with her romance-writing mother because her parents are divorced.  Flora has withdrawn into the comic book world of The Amazing Incandesto! and has memorized much of its ongoing feature Terrible Things Can Happen to You!
Ulysses is a squirrel who has been swallowed whole by a neighbors new vacuum cleaner.  Flora rescues Ulysses; and Ulysses is transformed into a superhero who can fly, type and compose poetry, and is always hungry.
This quirky story by Kate DiCamillo (we claim her as a Minnesotan, although she isn't always residing here), with illustrations by K. G. Campbell, will appeal to intermediate readers.