Thursday, March 20, 2014

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo - 233 pages

Flora is a lonely girl.  Her parents are separated.  Her mother is a romance writer that cares more for a lamp than her daughter.  She spends all her time reading the comic "The Adventures of Incandesco".

Ulysses is a squirrel that has just been eaten by a vacuum.  The first thing he sees after being rescued is Flora.

Flora is convinced Ulysses is a superhero.  And he does seem to have special powers.  He understands humans.  He types poetry.  He flies.  He also has an arch-nemesis -- Flora's mother.

This was the Newbery Award winner for this year.  I started out listening to this on CD.  However, I was completely bored and ended up quitting by the end of the first CD.  However, the print version was much, much better.  For one thing, with the audio you miss the occasional comic strip that forwards the story.  I liked the print version so much better I actually laughed out loud a few times.  I have discovered that I generally don't like Kate DiCamillo's books on audio.  I'm not sure if I don't care for the narrators that are used or if her books just don't lend well to being read aloud.  Then again, maybe it's just me.

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