Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

From Goodreads,

"It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry—and that Flora will be changed too, as she discovers the possibility of hope and the promise of a capacious heart. 

From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters and featuring an exciting new format—a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black-and-white by up-and-coming artist K. G. Campbell."

Goodreads - Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Awards and Nominations:

• National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2013)
• Newbery Medal (2014)
• Alabama Library Association Children's Book of the Year Nominee for 4-5 (2014)
• Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee (2015)
• Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award Nominee for Grades 3-6 (2015)

There are some books on the Newbery Award winning list that I've struggled to find.  I try to find the books used to save some money.  While I was searching the shelves at Saver's I was able to snatch up this wonderful book.  I was so excited because I had yet to find it used.  

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures tells the story of a young girl named Flora who wants to spend her summer reading comic books, despite her mother's protests.  But one day chaos happens outside when a squirrel gets sucked up into a vacuum.  Flora helps the dear little squirrel, but soon realizes he isn't just a regular squirrel anymore.  The squirrel she names Ulysses, has amazing strength and the ability to understand Flora along with other shocking skills. Flora and her superhero squirrel become an unlikely duo with a challenge to conquer the arch nemesis.  

There are some books on the Newbery winners list that I wonder how they received the award because I didn't feel it was notable or worthy of holding such a high honor.  There are other books that I absolutely agree with the decision for it to be a winner.  This book is one of them.  It absolutely deserved to be the 2014 Newbery Award winning book.  One of the things that I absolutely adored was that we saw the story unfold through both Flora and Ulysses.  It gave the book another dimension and truly allowed the reader to see and understand what Ulysses the squirrel was thinking and feeling.  It really showed how much Flora loved Ulysses, and how much Ulysses loved Flora.

This book has a wonderful message about learning how to love and accept people for who they are.  Two of the biggest transformations were Flora and her mother.  Her mother really struggled with flora being "normal", but by the end of the book she was accepting Flora for who she really was.  Flora claimed she was a cynic and that she didn't believe in the romance novels her mother wrote.  But the more time she spent with Ulysses the more she loved him.  Flora learned to accept that it is okay to love and to hope.  I think that it is important for kids to learn that they should accept people for who they are and to love them.  And honestly, many adults would benefit from reading this book about acceptance.

I've read a couple of books by Kate DiCamillo and this one did not disappoint.  This book was absolutely wonderful with an excellent balance of traditional book with comic book style graphics mixed in.  I think that this would be a wonderful read aloud for my students.  I think they would honestly love this book and the idea of a superhero squirrel.  I give this 5 stars and recommend it to teachers and third through fifth grade aged students.  

The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo

From Goodreads:

"A National Book Award finalist by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo.

Walking through the misty Florida woods one morning, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger—a real-life, very large tiger—pacing back and forth in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine Bailey, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things—like memories, and heartache, and tigers—can’t be locked up forever. Featuring a new cover illustration by Stephen Walton."

Goodreads - The Tiger Rising

Awards:

• Charlie May Simon Honor Book - 2003-2004

The story takes place in Florida at the Kentucky Star Motel.  Rob, our main character, has a lot of pent up sadness from the fact that he lost his mother only six months prior.  His father told him to not cry at the funeral and since then Rob hasn't cried.  One morning Rob was out wandering around and he stumbled across a tiger in a cage.  Shortly thereafter Rob meets Sistine Bailey.  Sistine is a girl who is always in dresses and is always standing up for herself.  Sistine lives with her mother because her father cheated and she constantly believes that one day he will come back and take her away from the horrible town they are in.  Rob and Sistine become friends and Rob eventually tells Sistine about the tiger.  They go and visit the tiger and Sistine immediately wants to free the tiger.  The tiger's owner hires Rob to feed the tiger.  Sistine is still dead set on letting the tiger go.  Rob eventually makes the decision to let the tiger go and in turn the tiger is shot to keep it from eating anyone.  An emotional outpouring happens immediately after the tiger is shot.  Of course everyone lives happily ever after in the end.

There were two big messages I encountered in this book.  One of the biggest messages that I took away from this was that you have to let your anger and sadness go so that happiness can find its way into your heart.  Rob held all his sadness in.  He wouldn't let it go because his father told him not to cry.  He was somewhat angry that his father wouldn't even say his mother's name.  Rob freed himself when he let the tiger go.  After he let the tiger go and the tiger was shot he had no choice but to be angry and upset at his father for killing the tiger.  Rob's outburst though, allowed him to get closer to his father and he was able to let happiness back into his life.  Sistine was the same way.  She honestly thought that her father was going to come and pick her up from the town she was in, but her mother continued to call her father a liar.  Once Sistine accepted that he wasn't coming she was able to let the anger and sadness go and let happiness into her heart.  The tiger was a symbolic piece in this book.  While the tiger was caged he was unhappy, angry, and pacing his cage just waiting to explode.  Once they opened the cage it took him a minute to accept that he could be free and happy and to let it happen.  And after the tiger left the cage he became happy, even if it was for a short time.  While we may get sad or angry at things, we cannot let it stay pent up inside us and allow it to control us.  We must let the sadness and anger go in order to find peace and happiness within.

The other message I picked up on was the focus on friendship.  Rob didn't have someone who he could call a friend until he met Sistine.  Of course Sistine was the sassy pants friend while Rob was the shy and quiet one.  The two really complimented each other, which is what most friends do.  One friend will make up for what the other friend lacks.  Rob had concealed his feelings in his "suitcase" and he refused to open it up and look at his not-thoughts and his not-wishes.  Sistine was a persistent friend who would continue to ask a question until she got an answer.  And if she didn't get an answer then she would leave Rob standing there to mull over what was happening.  Sistine always got an answer and Rob figured out how to open up his suitcase and let himself feel again.  This book really put an emphasis on the value of friendship and how it can help you learn to feel again.  Both Sistine and Rob discovered how to let their anger and sadness out and to let their happiness in because they found each other and helped each other.

This book was really well written.  It was short with only 116 pages in the copy I purchased.  It would be a good read for a 4th or 5th grade class.  It would also be a good book to use to talk about feelings, friendship, and even bullying.  It has a good message and is written by Kate DiCamillo who also wrote Because Of Winn Dixie.  I give this book 4 out of 5 stars because it didn't hold my attention long enough for me to sit down and read this book in a day.