The Man In The Ceiling — Jules Feiffer

Jimmy has one thing going for him. Though he's no good at sports and not much better in school, he can draw. Which is what he does. Day and night. Comic books. Jimmy's dream is to be a great cartoonist someday, even greater than Walt Disney. Father thinks Jimmy is wasting his time. And Mother -- well, her mind is always on something else, so she isn't much help. But then Charley Beemer, the greatest pre-teen athlete in the history of Montclair, New Jersey, turns out to be a fan of Jimmy's (and his original superhero, Mini-Man). When Charley suggests, actually suggests, that he and Jimmy create comics together, as a team, Jimmy can't believe life could ever get any better.

The saga of Jimmy, the boy cartoonist, is also the story of a family: Jimmy's father and mother; Lisi and Susu, his two sisters; and, perhaps more important than all the others, Uncle Lester, who writes flop Broadway musicals and whose dream, like Jimmy's, is to be recognized for what he loves doing most. Failure, Jimmy learns, is just one step along the way.