DiCamillo, Kate. Flora and Ulysses: The
Illuminated Adventures. Westminister: Candlewick Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7636-6040-6.
PLOT SUMMARY
If you could have one superhero friend, who would it be?
I bet you wouldn’t choose a squirrel! Ulysses is just that – a flying squirrel
with superpowers and poetry-writing skills. Flora Belle Buckman meets him after
saving his life when he was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, and they become fast
friends. The problem is, Flora’s mom doesn’t approve of her rodent-like friend
and tries repeatedly to get rid of him. The two friends experience many
adventures in this story as well as confront some issues that Flora is dealing
with personally.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This is the story of an unlikely friendship
that is told through text and comic strips. This type of book is an excellent
book to ease children who enjoy graphic novels and comic books into reading
novels. The characters in the book are ones who readers will fall in love with.
Flora is a young girl who is known as a “natural cynic” by her mother and a
loner by her peers. Her mother so desperately wants her to be a “normal” girl,
but Flora loves comic books and wants to forge her own path in the world. She
is a lot like other kids her age in that she's not really interested in being
or doing what her parents think is best. Ulysses is just an average squirrel who
gains superpowers when he is sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. Readers will love
his kind nature and his quirky, mushy poems that he writes for Flora.
Flora and Ulysses take part in many adventures
in this book, but the author also addresses some issues that Flora is going
through personally, which makes the story even more meaningful to readers. For
example, Flora’s parents have divorced and she is learning to cope with it. She
is also trying to determine who she is while being pressured by her mother to
be a “normal” girl. Young readers will find comfort in reading about characters
who are experiencing life events that are similar to their own.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
NEWBERY AWARD WINNING BOOK
From Publishers Weekly 2013: "Newbery Medalist DiCamillo and illustrator Campbell meld
prose with comics sequences in a broad comedy tinged with sadness."
From School Library Journal 2013: “Rife with marvelously rich vocabulary reminiscent of the
early superhero era and amusing glimpses at the world from the point of view of
Ulysses the supersquirrel, this book will appeal to a broad audience of
sophisticated readers.”
From Booklist 2013: “DiCamillo is a master storyteller…her biggest strength is
exposing the truths that open and heal the human heart. She believes in
possibilities and forgiveness and teaches her audience that the salt of life
can be cut with the right measure of love.”
CONNECTIONS
Check
out other books by Kate DiCamillo:
The Tale of Despereaux ISBN: 978-0763680893
Because of Winn-Dixie ISBN: 978-0763680862
The
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane ISBN: 978-0763680909
Check
out other Newberry Award-Winning titles with animal characters:
Island of the
Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell ISBN: 978-0890155066
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien ISBN: 978-0689710681
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate ISBN: 978-0061992278
Sample Classroom Activities:
Have students create their own comic-book
superheroes. Ask them to tell the superhero’s story with both words and pictures,
using word bubbles as in a comic strip. After the comic strips are created, share
them and discuss the process of this kind of writing.
One of Ulysses’s special powers is being able to write poetry.
Read Ulysses’s poems aloud. Then using your library as a resource, have
students investigate different styles of poetry and invite them to write their
own poetry.
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