![\"Flora](\"http:\/\/www.uww.edu\/images\/library\/blog\/flora.jpg\")
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Flora & Ulysses <\/strong>:<\/strong> What do you get when a Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner – a birthday present gone terribly wrong – ingests and regurgitates a backyard squirrel? Why, a super-squirrel with superpowers, a poetic bent, and a very bad grooming job, of course! Without Flora Belle Buckman, the 10-year-old star, and without her knowledge of CPR gleaned from her careful readings of her favorite comics, \u201cThe Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto!\u201d and its survival guide companion, \u201cTerrible Things Can Happen to You!\u201d, the hapless rodent would not have lived to entertain us with his tale. Ulysses, which Flora aptly names her newfound friend, needs her continued protection against his arch-nemesis, Flora’s mother Phyllis. Phyllis, always busy typing her romance novels, is perplexed by Flora\u2019s obsession with comics, sees no romance in her daughter\u2019s friendship with a squirrel, and simply misses Flora\u2019s lonliness. Phyllis schemes unsuccessfully to bring about Ulysses\u2019 demise, providing plenty of madcap adventures. Flora finds an ally in William Spiver, her neighbor Tootie Tickham\u2019s blind nephew, whom she reluctantly enlists to help her protect Ulysses.<\/p>\n Alternating between Flora\u2019s and Ulysses\u2019 narration, the reader can begin to appreciate a squirrel\u2019s worldview \u2013 albeit that of a supersquirrel with newfound powers of cogitation. This squirrel admires the beautiful things around him, including, \u201cgiant donuts and Flora Belle Buckman’s round head and all the wonderful thoughts inside of it\u201d [p. 181]. Just what goes through the squirrel\u2019s brain as he tries his paw at tapping out a poem or two on Phyllis\u2019s electric typewriter? Find out in this sweetly absurd, chapter book adventure.<\/p>\n In honor of National Poetry Month, it is fitting to share a poem – – written by a squirrel:<\/p>\n I love your round head, by Ulysses (or Kate DiCamillo), Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flora & Ulysses : The Illuminated Adventures by Kate Dicamillo; illustrated by K.G. Campbell. F DiC Curriculum Collection, Juvenile Fiction , 2nd floor What do you get when a Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X vacuum cleaner – a birthday present gone … Continue reading
\nThe Illuminated Adventures
\nby Kate Dicamillo; illustrated by K.G. Campbell.
\nF DiC<\/a>
\nCurriculum Collection, Juvenile Fiction , 2nd floor<\/p>\n
\nthe brilliant green,
\nthe watching blue,
\nthe letters,
\nthis world, you.
\nI am very, very hungry. [p. 65]<\/p>\n