Flora and Ulysses by: Kate di Camillo

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Title: Flora and Ulysses: the illuminated adventures

Author: Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by K. G. Campbell

Award: 2014 Newberry Medal

Lexile Level: 520L

—Recommended for:

·  Ages 8-12 Years

·  Second Grade to Seventh Grade

Summary:

The book titled Flora and Ulysses: the illuminated adventures by Kate DiCamillo  and illustrated by K. G. Campbell is about a girl named Flora who rescues the life of a squirrel through resuscitating him, after recalling information from a book series called Terrible Things Can Happen to You! She names him Ulysses after the vacuum, Ulysses 2000x, that threatened his life after Flora’s neighbor vacuumed him, while utilizing it to vacuum her lawn. This novel focuses on her adventures with Ulysses. This bond of friendship is first developed through his communication with Flora, through nodding his head and typing letters.

     

This book contains illustrations through charcoal/pencil sketches that depict important scenes, throughout the story such as Ulysses typing poems on the typewriter, which belongs to Flora’s mother.

Text:

—I believe that the pace of the story is well-paced. The chapters are short, which allows readers to experience a sense of accomplishment.

This novel consist of sixty-eight chapters and an epilogue, which is a poem for Flora by Ulysses.

—This text allows students the opportunity to become connected with the characters, particularly Flora and Ulysses. For example, through the focus of the scene of Flora administering CPR to Ulysses, readers may experience emotions of sadness when they read that the squirrel was not breathing.

Throughout the novel, Ulysses is not was portrayed as an ordinary squirrel as well as possesses talent in his poem writing as well as utilizing the typewriter that belongs to Flora’s mother.

The throughout the story, Flora is portrayed as a quirky, independent young girl who cares about animals. This is seen through her kindness and empathy that she shows as she races off to the lawn as she attempts to save a squirrel.

Illustrations

Chapter Nine: The Whole World on Fire (DiCamillo 25).

         

Chapter Twenty-Three: Enter the Villain (DiCamillo 74).

                   

The novel begins with graphics, that are shown in panels, similar to a graphic novel. 

These illustrations explain what led Mrs. Tickham to the lawn with her vacuum, Ulysses 2000x.

The illustrations within this novel are black and white, charcoal sketches.

In the previous slide, the left image depicts Flora holding Ulysses after she saves him. She picks to him and calls him Ulysses. After being saved from the vacuum, Ulysses begins to complement his view on humans, which he was “terrified” of due to the prior mistreatment that he experienced. This image displays the beginning of their bond and the budding trust that he hold for each other.

—Quotation:

“She put her hand on him. She picked    him up. She cradle him in her left arm. He felt nothing but happiness. Why had he always been so terrified of humans? He couldn’t imagine.” (DiCamillo 24).

The illustrations within this novel allow readers to see detailed images of the reactions of characters.

In the previous slide, the image on the right depicts Flora’s father is utterly shocked when Flora’s mother tells him the following: “  ‘For the love of Pete, George!’ shouted her mother. ’Put the squirrel in the sack, and then hit him over the head with the shovel.’ ” (DiCamillo 73).

Learning Standards

“ 3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

 —5. Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

— 7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.” (Reading Standards for Literature K–5: Grade 2 students)

Learning Goals

• ——Students will obtain an introduction and knowledge about the basic principles of poetry.
• Students will identify the overall structure of a story.
• Students will identify the differences between a story and a poem.

—Learning Objective

         

Student will write a poem that displays Ulysses’ perspective, from their knowledge obtained through reading the novel titled Flora and Ulysses: the illuminated adventures by Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by K. G. Campbell. (Psychomotor)

Learning Activity

—This learning activity focuses on students learning how to write poems. Throughout the book, Ulysses writes poems. I believe that it would be a great opportunity to introduce the structure of poems and the various styles of poetry (e.g. Haiku, Free Verse, Sonnet, etc.). This activity  connects the reading of this book into an activity that supports the English Language Arts-Literacy Learning Standards.

The Flora & Ulysses Teacher’s Resource displays a few suggestions of activities can be utilized as part of a lesson plans. This guide states “Challenge them to try to write a poem as if they were Ulysses.” By reading this novel, students were able to learn about Ulysses and his personality. The challenge to write in his perspective is a fun way of the students utilizing their creativity and what they have learned through the novel to complete this assignment. Students will present their poem to their peers.

Learning Outcome

Students will be able to successfully identify the overall structure and compose a poem based on the structure necessary by the style of the poem. Students will be assessed by their level of creativity utilized to compose a poem in Ulysses' perspective, the correct usage of the structure of the poem’s style as well as the presentation of the poem to their peers.

Selling Tool

References

—English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » Grade 4. (n.d.). Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/4/

—Flora & Ulysses Teacher Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://floraandulysses.com/media/fu_teachersguide.pdf

—Lexile Levels Made Easy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2017, from http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/lexile-levels-made-easy

—Mid-Hudson Library System --Flora & Ulysses : the illuminated adventures / Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by K. G. Campbell. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2017, from http://search.midhudsonlibraries.org/iii/encore/record/C__Rb2053474__Sflora%20and%20ulysses__Orightresult__U__X7?lang=eng&suite=cobalt

—New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2017, from https://www.engageny.org/resource/new-york-state-p-12-common-core-learning-standards-for-english-language-arts-and-literacy