(Image taken from Google.com)
Flora & Ulysses
DiCamillo, K & Campbell, K.G. (2013). Flora &
Ulysses. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press
Awards: 2014 Newbery Award
Suggested Delivery: Individual, Small Group, or Read Aloud
Lexile Reading Level: 520L
Age Range: 8-12
Grade Level: 3-6
About the Book: A tragic accident involving a squirrel being
vacuumed up encourages cynic Flora Belle Buckman to save him using her comic
book knowledge. Surprisingly, the squirrel Ulysses comes back to life with
superpowers. A story of adventure, villains, and change, this novel with comic
like graphics will humor any young reader.
Keywords: Humor, Comics, Hero, Villain, Change, Relationships
Electronic Resources:
The author did a Q&A that is available for view online.
It gives in depth information about how the author gained inspiration for the
story, details on the characters, and snippets on her writing process. This
could engage students in the reading and lead to discussions on fictional
writing.
Students can use Animoto to create their own book trailer
for the novel. They can work in small groups to do this and include
introductions to the characters as well as keywords, reviews of the book, and a
summary.
Vocabulary:
-Illuminated: to enlighten, as with knowledge; to light up
-High Jinks: unrestrained fun
-Cynic: a person who shows or expresses a bitterly or
sneeringly attitude
-Defiance: a daring resistance to any opposing force
-Malfeasance: the act by a public official of an act that is
legally unjustified or harmful; wrongdoing
-Incandescent: intensely bright; brilliant
Reading Strategies:
-Before reading the text, the teacher can model Shared Reading.
This is when the class talks about the title, cover, author and illustrator.
After having the students make predictions, the teacher reads aloud a portion
of the text to demonstrate fluency and text to self while engaging the students
throughout the reading. Students can read on their own or with partners
afterwards.
-During the reading of the text, students can participate in
Read-Write-Pair-Share. Students read independently, write their impressions of
the text or write a response to a posed question, pair up with someone to
discuss their ideas, and then share with the whole class.
-After reading the text, students can create Poems for Two
Voices. Choosing two characters from the book, students can compare and
contrast the characters to come up with a poem for two voices in the “voice” of
the two characters.
Writing Activity:
One of Ulysses’ super powers is his ability to write poetry.
Ask students what Ulysses communicates in his poetry and how poetry is
different than communicating with prose? Students can research different styles
of poetry and then create their own poem as if they were Ulysses.
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