Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

Bibliography: 

DiCamillo, Kate. Flora & Ulysses:  The Illuminated Adventures. Ill. by K. G. Campbell. Virginia: Candlewick Press, 2013. ISBN 9780763660406

Plot Summary:

This story revolves around a young girl named Flora, or Flora Belle as her infuriating mother calls her. Flora is a lonely girl who doesn't have many friends and turns to her comic books for all the answers to life's questions. One day while enjoying her favorite comic book, Flora sees her neighbor’s vacuum run around the backyard and suck up an innocent squirrel. Flora decides to save the poor squirrel after learning how to do CPR from her beloved comic books. She soon realizes this is no ordinary squirrel. The squirrel is a real life superhero she names Ulysses. This fun and quirky story takes you on an adventure and shows you what determination and love can really do.

Critical Analysis:

Flora and Ulysses are two characters any kid will love, laugh, and identify with through their zany adventures. Other youngsters who are also having family problems and trying to find their way through a divorce will understand Flora best. Readers will love Ulysses; will hope that he finds a home and some happiness. The storyline is different and original, but believable. Flora and Ulysses go on an entertaining journey, with many obstacles to overcome. But overcome them they do, and manage to have a lot of fun along the way.

The tale of Flora and Ulysses is set in mainly in Flora’s home and the surrounding neighborhood. The locale of the story is very normal with many details to help the reader visualize the surroundings. These include the description of the vacuum cleaner and the shepherdess lamp that are important parts of the story.

Along their journey together, Flora and Ulysses help each other believe in people, conquer loneliness, hope for good things and find love. They become close to each other and Flora develops a better relationship with her mom. Flora realizes she does have a family, friends who care about her, and that she is special. DiCamillo incorporates cartoons and wonderful illustrations throughout the book, while using a rich vocabulary.

   

Review Excerpts:

• 2014 Newbery Medal Winner
• From School Library Journal-"Campbell's rounded and gentle soft-penciled illustrations, at times in the form of panel art furthering the action, wonderfully match and add to the sweetness of this oddball story. Rife with marvelously rich vocabulary reminiscent of the early superhero era (e.g., “Holy unanticipated occurrences!”) 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. There are plenty of action sequences, but the novel primarily dwells in the realm of sensitive, hopeful, and quietly philosophical literature."
• From Booklist (starred review)-"Newbery winner DiCamillo is a master storyteller, and not just because she creates characters who dance off the pages and plots, whether epic or small, that never fail to engage and delight readers. 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."
• From Kirkus Reviews (starred review)-"Original, touching and oh-so-funny tale starring an endearingly implausible superhero and a not-so-cynical girl."
• From Publishers Weekly (starred review)-"Despite supremely quirky characters and dialogue worthy of an SAT prep class, there’s real emotion at the heart of this story involving two kids who have been failed by the most important people in their lives: their parents."
• From The New York Times Book Review-"In Flora and Ulysses, longtime fans will find a happy marriage of Mercy Watson's warmth and wackiness and Edward Tulane's gentle life lessons. In Flora, they will find a girl worth knowing, and one they will remember."

Connections:

Gather other books written by Kate DiCamillo to share with students:

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane ISBN 9780763643676

Leroy Ninker Saddles Up: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume One ISBN 9780763663391

The Magician’s Elephant ISBN 9780763652982

Because of Winn-Dixie ISBN 9780763644321

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread ISBN 9780763625290

Writing activity:  Both Flora and William Spiver need a friend. How do you make friends? What things do you do to become friends? What actions do Flora and William Spiver take? Write a short paragraph about friendship using Flora and William Spiver as your examples.

Writing activity:  If you were creating a superhero, what animal would you choose? Create your own superhero animal using Ulysses as a guide. You may want to include:

• a superpower

• a special name

• how that character hides his or her superhero self

• friends

• enemies

Art/Writing activity:  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.

Ask your students:

1. How hard is it to write in such limited space?

2. How do the words and pictures work together?

3. Did you choose to use color or black and white?

4. Was this hard to do or easy?

Poetry activity:  One of Ulysses’s special powers is being able to write poetry, and poetry is found throughout Flora & Ulysses. Ulysses’s first poem is on page 65, and on page 232 he writes the epilogue. Read Ulysses’s poems aloud, then ask your students: What does Ulysses communicate in his poetry?  Invite students to write their own poetry. Challenge them to try to write a poem as if they were Ulysses.