Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Title: Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Rating: 5/5

Author: KateDiCamillo

Pages: 231

Genre: Children’s

Synopsis:

She is a natural-born cynic! He is an unassuming squirrel! Together, Flora & Ulysses will conquer villains, defend the defenseless, and protect the weak. Or something.

That’s directly from the inside flap of the book cover, and I didn’t think I could do any better than that. Although, I suppose it doesn’t hurt for you to know that this all began when Ulysses was sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, which experience suddenly gives him abnormal powers for a squirrel. Let the adventures begin!

My Reaction:

Unlike Flora, I am not a natural-born cynic. It seems that I am more easily moved by simple things in my old age. (For the record, I know I’m not actually old. It just sounds better to say it that way than, “Man, I swear lately I’ve been turning into a big baby over things like flying squirrels!” Or something.) So it was with this book. The end brought a tear to my eye and I may have even put my hand to my heart—an outward expression of my mind screaming, “This is so sweet!”

But enough about tears. Let me tell you how great this book is.

As I was starting to read Flora & Ulysses, I happened to show my husband, Corey, one of the illustrations. He took a look at the girl and the squirrel then looked at me and said, “You read the weirdest books,” to which I quickly countered with, “No, I read the best books!” Kate DiCamillo is one of my favorite children’s authors, and this book just furthered solidified my love for her work.

This story was a fun and marvelous adventure from page one. Flora, besides being a cynic, loves comics, and I enjoyed the way that often came out not just in the story itself but in how the story was told. On occasion, instead of full text, we are treated to a page or two of panels and speech bubbles (kind of like The Invention of Hugo Cabret if you are familiar with that…only that one just uses pictures). I also thoroughly enjoyed each and every character who is unique in their own way and easily imaginable. And again, here I was just expected a fun story, not really thinking there would be something I could take away from it, and lo and behold! There it was! A golden nugget of wisdom hidden between the pages. It was fun to take part in the adventure and to watch the characters learn and grow. I laughed. I thought. My eyes watered. Yep. Sounds like a keeper.

This book won the Newbery Medal for 2014, and it is well deserving of that award.

Reader’s Guidance:

Nothing to fear as far as I’m concerned.

Similar Books:

The first book that came to mind was The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. They're quite different in nature and style. Flora is more lighthearted and humorous while still dealing with some heavy topics like divorce or feeling like your mother loves a lamp more than she loves you (true story). Gilly is more of a drama dealing with a family situation that is very much not ideal for the main character (i.e. being in foster care and wanting nothing more than to be with her birth mother). Gilly was also the winner of the Newbery Medal in 1979.

Next Book:

Next on our list is Mustaches for Maddie by Chad Morris and Shelly Brown. Be aware that this book is about a twelve year old girl who is diagnosed with a brain tumor. You have been warned!