Lovereading4kids Reader reviews of Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo Illustrated by K.G. Campbell Below are the complete reviews, written by Lovereading4kids members. Benjy Randall, age 9 Brilliant, funny book with amazing pictures; would highly recommend it. Flora and Ulysses is a funny book with creative pictures. It all began when a squirrel was sucked up into a vacuum cleaner and made into a superhero. Flora, the girl who rescues him named the squirrel Ulysses after the vacuum cleaner. Together they battle evil (a cat) and write poetry. The characters are Flora, Ulysses, Mary Ann a lamp, William Spiver, Tootie, Mum and dad and last of all DR Meeshcam. I loved this book and didn't want it to end! Rohan Delamere, age 8 Flora and Ulysses is a funny adventure book. I like the mixture of comics and words. The hero of the story is a squirrel who gets hoovered up and gets superpowers like being stronger than the strongest human and flying. Him and Flora have lots of adventures. This book is not like any other! What book has a superhero squirrel, a mum who is his arch-nemesis and a boy next door who is scared to take of his glasses? I would rate this book 9 and a half out of 10 and I would recommend it to boys and girls age 7-10.
Olivia Coates, age 9 Funny, easy to read. Sure to have your children absorbed. This is a wonderful children's book. Firstly, the book looked good - it would make a great present, and the style of writing dotted with illustrations was lovely. My nine year old daughter, Olivia, loved the story - she found it hilarious and couldn't wait to tell us about the characters as well as snippets of the storyline. Several of her friends have commented that they would like to borrow it - a sure sign of a good book. Jenny Bridgeman, age 8 I love the illustrations. It s really funny and different. It s my favourite book I read so far. It is absolutely fantastic. I m enjoying this book and I m glad I've got this book. My favourite character is Uylsses the superhero squirrel! He and Flora have trouble getting everybody to realise he has super powers after his tragic lawn mowing accident! Flora is a caring girl and I would like her to be my friend! Sam Harper, age 9 Flora and Ulysses is the story of an ordinary squirrel and the strange events which result from his encounter with a Ulysses Super-suction, multi-terrain 2000x vacuum cleaner. He develops super powers after he is sucked up by the vacuum and finds that he can fly and write poetry as well as having super strength. Ulysses the super squirrel is obsessed with doughnuts but isn't sure how to use his powers until he meets Flora, a girl who loves comics and lives with her mother. Flora and Ulysses become best friends and work as a team to vanquish the ferocious cat, Mr Claws, who lives in her father s apartment block where he lies in wait to attack unsuspecting people. While the friends are intent on eliminating the villainous cat, Flora's mother is trying to get rid of Ulysses. She thinks that he is diseased because of his bald patches which were actually caused by the vacuum cleaner. Flora must do everything she can in order to save Ulysses and she may even need to kidnap her mother's favourite lamp! I absolutely loved everything about this quirky, funny and exciting
tale. It is partly told with brilliant cartoons and illustrations which make it great fun to read and totally unique. This is such a special book, you must read it! Evie Scott-Sentence, age 10 This book is about a girl, Flora. One afternoon, something goes terribly wrong when next door s vacuum cleaner vacuums up a squirrel. Flora saves the squirrel, Ulysses, and finds out that the incident has given him special powers. He can now type, fly and defeats Mr Klaus the cat. Flora becomes friends with Ulysses and is desperate to keep him although unfortunately her mother disagrees. So Flora and Ulysses must find a way to be together... The book is very funny and made me laugh out loud but it is also quite moving at the end. I really enjoyed reading the story and I hope that there will be more adventures for Flora and Ulysses in the future. I am going to look out for other books by Kate DiCamillo after reading this one. I really recommend it! Rebekah Choi, age 11 A tale with twists of suspense as Flora discovers the power of a hoovered up squirrel, Ulysses. Flora and Ulysses go on an adventure to protect Ulysses from the suspected arch enemy William Spiver. I didn't enjoy this particularly because I found some of the words difficult and the story difficult to follow at some stages. The fact that the squirrel could type made me laugh but it was too unrealistic. The pictures were great and humorous and I looked forward to turning the page for them. Katie Johnson, age 9 This was a truly heartwarming, witty story. And it was the best book I have ever read! I loved everything about it and am looking forward to reading another book by this fantastic author.
I loved Ulysses' charming poems, William Spiver's strange theories, George Buckman's mad suggestions; I loved everything! From start to end, this was a pleasure to read and was very entertaining. I would highly recommend it and am looking forward to reading another book by this fantastic author. Elspeth Paterson, age 9 I really liked Flora and Ulysses, the Illuminated Adventures and give it 5 out of 5. It is different to most stories, out of the ordinary because you don t normally get flying squirrels that writes poetry! The story is about a small girl, Flora, with a cynical view of life. She sees a squirrel getting vacuumed up which is where the story of the Superhero Squirrel really begins The book has written chapters and pages of comic strip illustration. It is funny because of the comic strips and it makes you feel like it is happening right in front of you. My favourite part is when Flora sees what her next door neighbour s Grandson is really like, with a similar view of life as her and that they can be good friends. I would really recommend Flora and Ulysses to all children who enjoy a good laugh. It isn t scary or difficult to understand so could be enjoyed with an adult, if you are younger than eight. Jemma Rubens, age 10 This (brilliant) book is all about a squirrel (Ulysses) that accidently gets sucked up into a hoover, going in brainless and coming out extremely knowledgeable, that is to say being able to understand everything people say. He can even write poetry! Flora (the protagonist) and Ulysses have great adventures, and altogether it is a really great book. I enjoyed it all, but my favourite part would probably have to be the cartoons or the wonderful illustrations. The William Spiver bits are also extremely funny, as is the whole book. I just couldn t stop laughing throughout the entire book. It does have quite an abrupt ending, which I was slightly disappointed with. I would recommend this amazing book to children who like funny stories, or readers who like animals, especially squirrels.
Before this review finishes, I d like to seize the opportunity to thank a couple of people. First of all, Kate DiCamillo for writing it, K.G. Campbell for doing all the pictures, and finally, Lovereading4kids, for giving me the chance to read it before most other kids. Jemima Wilcox, age 9 Flora loves comic books but her mum loves romances. She changes her life the day she gave mouth to mouth to a squirrel! They have many funny adventures together :) It starts off with a girl named Flora, she loves comic books but her mum writes romance books and her mum prefers a shepherdess lamp to Flora! Then, one day... She hears a loud noise, and she looks out of her bedroom window, and she sees a Squirrel being chased by an over powered vacuum cleaner! She ran down stairs and out of the door to rescue that unfortunate squirrel! But when she got there the squirrel was being sucked up, and then the vacuum cleaner broke because the squirrel was too big for it to go up the tube, Flora grabbed at the squirrels tail and pulled it out, it wasn t breathing. She did mouth to mouth to the squirrel (yes. mouth to mouth with a squirrel) you have to read the book to find out more! Flora and Ulysses have adventures together. Ulysses is a very special squirrel, A SUPER SQUIRREL! You would like this book if you like action packed ones. It is a very good book with little comic book bits in. I absolutely love it, again very good book. You can read Jemima s blog at: http://triplepikachupower.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/flora-and-ulyssesbook-review.html