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retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16052012-flora-ulysses?ac=1&from_search=true
DiCamillo, Kate. 2013.
Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated
Adventures. Ill. K. G. Campbell. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763660406
PLOT SUMMARY
As Flora Buckman watches her neighbor accidentally vacuum up
a squirrel with an out-of-control vacuum cleaner, she has no idea the dramatic
turn her life is about to take. After
Flora gives the squirrel CPR and saves its life, she names the squirrel Ulysses. Not only is Ulysses restored, but he now has superhero
powers and the ability to understand human speech. He also shows a deep love for
Flora and also for writing poetry. When Flora
develops an unlikely friendship with the precocious, temporarily blind William
Spiver, she learns that life is not perfect for William either and that
families are complicated. Together with
Ulysses as her devoted sidekick, Flora’s learns about the importance of valuing
and cherishing her of friends and family through her zany adventures.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The protagonist of the story is
Flora Belle Buckman, a self-proclaimed cynic and her story told from a
first-person narrative style. Flora is a highly imaginative child who loves
reading “The Criminal Element” comic book, particularly the special pointers
and words of wisdom it imparts to its readers in the section, “Terrible Things
Can Happen To You!” For example, the
style and tone of the story are found in the various helpful fact snippets she
learns from “The Criminal Element” about the best ways to get to know a person
or how to recognize if a person has a concussion.
Flora especially
enjoys reading the adventures of Alfred T. Slipper, who is really the superhero
named Incandesto, and quoting lines from his comic, “The Illuminated Adventures
of the Amazing Incandesto!” Flora envisions
a life for herself where she is living in a superhero comic. Now that she has
Ulysses in her life, she believes they will have superhero adventures together. The noticeably short chapters in the book duplicate
the pace and energy of the stories commonly found in comics. Likewise, the comic book-style of the pencil
drawings adds to the tone of the story.
There are several full-page drawings in addition to a variety of frames
in all sizes and shapes that are surrounded by an empty gutter, reminiscent of
a comic book.
The antagonist
is Flora’s mother. The main conflict in the story revolves around Flora’s relationship
with her mother spends more time writing books about romance than paying
attention to her daughter. Flora’s mother writes romance novels
professionally, which causes Flora to despise romance novels and believe her
mother does not know anything about romance or love. Her mother complains about “The Criminal
Element” comic book Flora reads and pesters her to find better books to
read. Sadly, her mother owns an obnoxiously
large ceramic lamp of a shepherdess which she adores, and this causes Flora to
feel she loves the lamp more than her. Flora
considers her father, an unassuming man who works as an accountant, to be the
loneliest person alive after the divorce.
The setting
of the story is Flora’s house where she lives with her mother. She also goes to visit her father at his apartment.
After her parent’s divorce, Flora finds
herself lonely too, especially on her weekend visits to her fathers. Her new friendships with William Spiver and
Ulysses help her begin to heal from her parent’s separation.
The
exposition of the story begins when Flora’s neighbor Tootie Tickham receives a Ulysses
2000 vacuum cleaner for her birthday from her husband. Flora, upstairs in her bedroom watches aghast
as Tootie accidentally vacuums up a squirrel in the backyard with the Ulysses
2000. After Flora provides CPR to the squirrel and brings it back to life, she
realizes he has superpowers and can understand human speech. Flora names the squirrel Ulysses and takes
him home with her.
The rising
action begins as Flora sneaks Ulysses into her house. That night, while Flora sleeps, Ulysses goes
downstairs, eats an entire bag of cheese puffs, and types a few sentences on
Flora’s mother’s typewriter. The next
morning, although Flora is blamed for the cheese puffs and the use of the typewriter,
she is stunned to realize that Ulysses can type and can even write poetry. Tootie over to check on Ulysses, which prompts
her great-nephew William Spiver to come over also. This meeting marks the beginning of the
unlikely friendship between Flora and William and introduces the theme of friendship
in the story.
When
Flora’s father comes to pick her up for his weekend visit and Flora introduces
him to Ulysses as the themes of marriage and divorce are revealed. Together, the trio goes out for breakfast at
a donut shop. Their outing ends in a
series of calamities after Ulysses flies around the diner, including a head wound for Ulysses, and Flora and her
father running out of the shop with the cook threatening to call the cops on
them. When they reach her father’s
apartment, Flora notices that one of his neighbors is a doctor and decides to
ask if the doctor can help with Ulysses injury.
To Flora’s
surprise, Dr. Meescham is an elderly woman who is a widow and a Doctor of
Philosophy. Flora quickly finds herself
sharing Ulysses’ secret with Dr. Meescham.
Most importantly, Flora learns that her father has spent quite a bit of
time talking with Dr. Meescham about his divorce and how much he misses being
with Flora. Hearing this information helps Flora realize she was not the only
person hurt terribly by the divorce.
The rising
action continues when Flora’s father takes her back home to her mother. Flora
finds William Spiver in her kitchen helping her mother write her romance novel.
Feeling betrayed by William and angry with her mother, Flora announces she is
moving in with her father because “At least he doesn’t wish he had a lamp for a
daughter” (p. 150). Shocked and hurt,
Flora’s mother tells Flora to go right ahead and that “It would certainly make
my life easier” (p. 150).
Sensing these
words had crushed Flora, William suggests that maybe Flora’s mother would like
to take back her words. When her mother
doesn’t say anything, William tells Flora that the reason he came over was because
he missed her and was looking for her. Flora is deeply impacted by William
saying, “I came to find you” (p. 151),
revealing the themes of care and compassion. After Flora’s mom goes to take a nap, when he
is alone with Flora, William reveals he was banished from his home. He shared that after his father died, his
mother remarried a man named Tyrone and that he did not get along with Tyrone,
establishing the themes of death, marriage, and family. William explained that some bad things had
happened and as a result, he was sent to live with his aunt.
Next, after
everyone leaves, Flora thinks her mother is beginning to act strangely towards
her and Ulysses. Later that night,
after Flora has gone to bed, Ulysses goes down to the kitchen to type a poem
for Flora on the typewriter. Instead,
Flora’s mother takes the poem and makes Ulysses type a new, hurtful message on
the typewriter. Then, she stuffs him in
a sack and then kidnaps him. Flora wakes
up in the middle of the night and after reading the typewritten message
realizes Ulysses was abducted.
The rising
action continues as Flora goes next door to wake William up and enlist his help
in finding Ulysses. Tootie wakes up too,
and Flora tells her what has happened.
Flora brings Mary Ann, the shepherdess lamp, with her because her mother
loves it and so she is holding it hostage.
Together, they drive in Tootie’s car in search of Ulysses until they run
out of gas. Walking back home, William
is confronted by Tootie, and the truth is revealed that he was sent to his
aunt’s house as punishment for pushing his stepfather’s truck into a sinkhole. Shocked by this revelation, Flora trips,
knocking William over and landing on him.
This fall causes William to regain his sight. Realizing Williams emotional state, Flora
reaches out and holds his hand. William
holds her hand back as they walk back to Flora’s dad’s apartment together.
Meanwhile, Flora’s mother takes Ulysses and a shovel out
into the forest. Before Flora’s mom
could do anything regrettable, Ulysses flies out of the sack, up into the air,
and escapes. He flies back to Flora’s
dad’s apartment building and into Dr. Meescham’s open window. Soon, Flora, William, and Tootie arrive at
the apartment and Flora is reunited with Ulysses and her father. Suddenly, they hear Flora’s mother in the
hallway being attacked by the landlord’s cat, Mr. Klaus. As Flora’s father and Tootie rush to her
defense, Tootie uses the lamp to whack the cat on the head, and the lamp
crumbles to pieces.
The climax of the story occurs as Flora realizes her mother
is crying not for the broken lamp as she imagined, but for her and that her
mother loves her. In the falling action
of the story, her mother explains that she panicked when she went home and
realized Flora was not there. She told
Flora that all she cared about was having Flora safe at home with her again. The resolution of the story occurs as her
mother reads the poem Ulysses had written for Flora before she kidnapped
him. Ulysses explains that he will write
more poetry about all that happened that night and many other things. In the Epilogue, Ulysses’ poem written for
Flora reveals the depth of his love for her.
REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Winner of the 2014 Newbery Medal
From School Library
Journal: “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.” -starred review
From Book List: “Newbery-winner
DiCamillo is a master storyteller 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.”
-starred review
From Kirkus Reviews:
“Original, touching and oh-so-funny tale starring an endearingly implausible
superhero and a not-so-cynical girl.” -starred review
From Publisher’s
Weekly: “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.”
-starred review
CONNECTIONS
Collect other Kate DiCamillo books to read such as:
- Because of Winn-Dixie. ISBN 9780763680862
- The Magician's Elephant. ISBN 9780763680886
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. ISBN 9780763680909
- Raymie Nightingale. ISBN 9780763696917
- The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread. ISBN 9780763680893
- The Tiger Rising. ISBN 9780763680879
Collect other Newbery Award winners/honor books to read such
as:
- Alexander, Kwame. The Crossover. ISBN 9780544107717
- Appelt, Kathi. The Underneath. ISBN 9781416950592
- Barnhill, Kelly. The Girl Who Drank the Moon. ISBN 9781616205676
- Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. ISBN 9780060530945
- Law, Ingrid. Savvy. ISBN 9780142414330
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