Flora & Ulysses discussion

For my Newberry Award novel I chose to read “Flora & Ulysses” by Kate DiCamillo. This book was just a little too grounded to be fantasy but also too ‘magical’ to be realistic. The story is about Flora and her superhero squirrel named Ulysses who can write poetry on a typewriter. I would prefer a full-blown fantasy story but I can see why children like a magic flying squirrel. I enjoyed to pictures to coincide with the story, there is only a few so it could be appealing to students without making the reading too easy. The story has good lessons about family and emotions and adds some interesting aspects for readers to think about like divorce and living with one parent. The book was a fun read and has a good pace and themes for young people. Flora feels like her mom doesn’t love her as much she loves her lamp but the ending has a nice little redemption arc for her mother. The ending is very happy and I enjoyed the family love aspect of it. I looked into the author a little and everyone mentions how much better “Because of Winn Dixie” is compared to this book so I might check that one out as well.