Flora is a cynic, and with good reason. Her parents are divorced, and her mom seems to love her lamp more than her own daughter. Flora lives for her comic books, so when her neighbor Tootie runs over a squirrel with her new Ulysses 2000X vacuum, and Flora revives him, she thinks he MUST have super powers. Turns out, being sucked up in that vacuum DID change the squirrel, whom Flora now lovingly calls Ulysses. He can type, fly, and write poetry. Unfortunately, every super hero must have a nemesis, and for Ulysses, that is Flora's mother, who only sees the squirrel as a rodent who must be dispatched, and fast. Flora and her neighbor's nephew, temporarily blind William Spiver, must protect Ulysses at all costs.
I love little cynical Flora, and her awesome, hilarious sidekick William Spiver. I listened to this on audio, and the narrator is amazing. This story works great as a read aloud, and her ability to give each character a different voice was a big part of the fun for me.
Yes, the young characters use big words that maybe a ten year old wouldn't use. But this story also stars a squirrel who types poetry, so I'm okay with it. The Newbery Committee made a great choice this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment