Path of a Superhero

Illuminated Vocabulary

Friends andVillains

FlyingHigher

Q $100

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Q $500 Q $500 Q $500 Q $500

Bonus Question© Suzy Red, Lockhart, TX, 2014

SealBlubber

Q $100

by Kate DiCamillo

$100 Question from Friends and Villains

Who was Flora’s neighbor?

How was she involved in the accident?

$100 Answer from Friends and Villains

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Flora’s neighbor was Tootie Tickham. Her new supersonic vacuum cleaner dragged her into her backyard where a squirrel was hunting for nuts.

$200 Question from Friends and Villains

Who was Flora?

How did she become friends with a squirrel?

How did the squirrel get his name?

$200 Answer from Friends and Villains

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Flora was a cynical girl who became friends with a squirrel after she shook him out of the vacuum cleaner and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Flora named him Ulysses after the vacuum cleaner.

$300 Question from Friends and Villains

Who did the squirrel encounter while he was unconscious?

What was the first clue that the squirrel had changed during his near-death experience?

$300 Answer from Friends and Villains

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While he was unconscious, the squirrel saw a bright light and heard a gentle voice (perhaps God’s) that sang to him as he floated on a cloud of light.

The first clue that the squirrel had changed during his near-death experience was when he lifted the vacuum cleaner with one paw.

$400 Question from Friends and Villains

Who was William Spiver?

How was his problem like Flora’s?

$400 Answer from Friends and Villains

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William Spiver was Tootie Tickham’s very annoying, smart great nephew who had been through a traumatic experience and was temporarily blinded.

Like Flora, he was very lonely because he came from an unhappy family.

$500 Question from Friends and Villains

Who was Dr. Meescham?

How had her childhood experiences shaped her attitudes?

$500 Answer from Friends and Villains

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Dr. Meescham was a psychiatrist who lived in the apartment across from Flora’s father.

Her childhood experiences with “trolls” in Blundermeecen taught her to always expect good things to happen. For example, she always left a window open for miracles to come in even if they didn’t, and she always opened the door in the middle of the night hoping to find the face of someone she wanted to see or a stranger she would come to love.

$100 Question from The Path of the Superhero

How did Flora establish communication with Ulysses?

$100 Answer from The Path of the Superhero

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Flora established communication with Ulysses by asking him questions that he could nod or shake his head to answer.

$200 Question from The Path of the Superhero

Describe Flora’s mother and why she disapproved of Flora’s reading material.

How did she react to her daughter’s new pet squirrel?

What did she do about it?

$200 Answer from The Path of the Superhero

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Flora’s crazy mother wrote romance novels, so she disapproved of Flora reading only comic books. She was mean and cold to Flora and cared more about a shepherdess lamp than about her daughter.

She reacted angrily to her daughter’s new pet squirrel and ordered her former husband to kill and bury it.

$300 Question from The Path of the Superhero

How did Ulysses learn how to act like a superhero?

$300 Answer from The Path of the Superhero

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Flora showed Ulysses her comic book, The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto, so the squirrel could see how a superhero could fly, conquer evil villains, and bring light into the darkest corners of the universe.

$400 Question from The Path of the Superhero

How did Ulysses discover another way to communicate and his ability to write poetry?

$400 Answer from The Path of the Superhero

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Ulysses was always hungry. So, one night, he went to the kitchen to find some food and discovered Flora’s mother’s typewriter. There, he typed his first letter ... S ... which awakened another way to communicate and his ability to write poetry.

$500 Question from The Path of the Superhero

What new problem brought Ulysses to discover his greatest power and have an accident?

Where did Flora seek help?

$500 Answer from The Path of the Superhero

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On his way to kill and bury the squirrel, Flora’s father took her to The Giant Do-Nut restaurant. There, a clumsy waitress accidentally poked Ulysses with a pencil. Frightened, he flew for the first time, but unfortunately, he flew into the waitress’s big hair. To get away, he flew into a glass door and was knocked out. Her father took them to his apartment. Flora saw that a doctor lived across the hall, so they met Dr. Meescham.

$100 Question from Illuminated Vocabulary

What are some examples of the word “malfeasance” in the story?

$100 Answer from Illuminated Vocabulary

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• a runaway vacuum cleaner chasing a squirrel

• all the times the squirrel had been chased or hurt

• Flora’s mother wanting her father to hit him over the head with a shovel

• Flora telling her mother that the malfeasance must stop

Answers vary. Some examples of the word “malfeasance” in the story were:

$200 Question Illuminated Vocabulary

Why was the word “mundane” a good adjective for the squirrel when the story began?

$200 Answer from Illuminated Vocabulary

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The word “mundane” was a good adjective for the squirrel when the story began because he was just an ordinary, unimportant squirrel.

$300 Question from Illuminated Vocabulary

What were some things that Ulysses understood needed to be vanquished?

$300 Answer from Illuminated Vocabulary

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Ulysses understood that evil villains, darkness, and cats needed to be vanquished.

$400 Question from Illuminated Vocabulary

What were some events that Flora called “holy unanticipated occurrences” in the story?

$400 Answer from Illuminated Vocabulary

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Some completely unexpected events that Flora called “holy unanticipated occurrences” were:

• A squirrel becoming a superhero

• Seeing words a squirrel typed

• Seeing Ulysses fly

• Ulysses vanquishing the cat

$500 Question from Illuminated Vocabulary

What is a “euphemism”?

What “euphemism” did Dr. Meescham use in the story?

$500 Answer from Illuminated Vocabulary

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A “euphemism” is a nice way of saying something that might be thought of as unpleasant otherwise.

In the story, Dr. Meescham used a euphemism when she said that her husband was “singing with the angels” instead of saying he was dead.

$100 Question from Seal Blubber

Why did Flora often use the expression, “seal blubber”?

$100 Answer from Seal Blubber

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Flora’s comic book edition of Terrible Things Can Happen to You explained that if you were stranded on the South Pole, the way to survive was to eat seal blubber. Flora thought the odds of surviving at the South Pole were impossible, so she often used the expression, “seal blubber” to encourage herself to overcome the odds against her.

$200 Question from Seal Blubber

Why did Flora need “seal blubber” when the squirrel got vacuumed up in the Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X?

$200 Answer from Seal Blubber

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When the squirrel got vacuumed up in the Ulysses Super-Suction, Multi-Terrain 2000X, it was going to take something amazing to save him ... so she gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to revive him. It turned out to be “seal blubber.”

$300 Question from Seal Blubber

Why did Flora say “seal blubber” when she saw the giant squid in the picture on Dr. Meescham’s wall?

$300 Answer from Seal Blubber

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When Flora saw the giant squid attacking the little boat in the picture on Dr. Meescham’s wall she said “seal blubber” to remind herself that there’s always a way out of an impossible situation.

$400 Question from Seal Blubber

Why did Flora think “seal blubber” when Dr. Meescham told her that her father has wept from his sadness while he sat on her couch?

$400 Answer from Seal Blubber

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Flora thought “seal blubber” when Dr. Meescham told her that her father has wept from his sadness while he sat on her couch to keep herself from crying. “Seal blubber” reminded her that things would get better. Her family would be okay.

$500 Question from Seal Blubber

What was the “seal blubber” that helped Flora survive after her mother told her to go ahead and leave because it would make her life easier?

$500 Answer from Seal Blubber

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The “seal blubber” that helped Flora survive after her mother’s cruel words came to her from William Spiver. William Spiver lifted her out of the darkness and into the light when he told Flora that he had come to find her.

$100 Question from Flying Higher

How important was the illustrator in this story?Why?

$100 Answer from Flying Higher

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The illustrator in this story was as important as the author because he told a large part of the story in comic strips and full-page illustrations that added information to the text.

$200 Question from Flying Higher

What were the sad parts of Flora and Ulysses?

How did author Kate DiCamillo and illustrator K. G. Campbell make it a story that made you laugh and gave you hope?

$200 Answer from Flying Higher

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The sad parts of Flora and Ulysses included the squirrel’s accident, her parents’ divorce and William Spiver’s banishment from home.

Kate DiCamillo and K. G. Campbell made it a funny, heroic story by using surprising language, situations like a flying squirrel vanquishing a villain cat, comic illustrations, and characters like Dr. Meescham who gave you hope punctuated with faith that things can always be okay.

$300 Question from Flying Higher

How did Flora feel about William Spiver when she first met him?

How did they become friends?

$300 Answer from Flying Higher

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Flora was extremely annoyed by William Spiver when she first met him. She thought he was unnecessarily whiny and was faking his blindness.

They became friends when they became involved in solving a problem together, overcoming impossible odds, and honestly sharing what bothered them.

$400 Question from Flying Higher

What is “Pascal’s Wager”?

Why did Dr. Meescham explain it to Flora?

$400 Answer from Flying Higher

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“Pascal’s Wager” explains why Dr. Meescham believes that God exists. She said that since it cannot be proven that God exists, she was better off to believe He does. She had nothing to lose and everything to gain. “There is much more beauty in the world if I believe such a thing is possible.”

She explained it to Flora because Flora considered herself a cynic who was afraid to believe that good things will happen. Dr. Meescham wanted her to feel free to look for good things as she did even though bad things had happened and would again.

$500 Question from Flying Higher

Several characters changed in the story.

Which character do you think changed the most?

Why?

$500 Answer from Flying Higher

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Answers vary. Some examples include:

•Ulysses, of course, who changed from an unassuming squirrel to a poetry-writing superhero.

•Flora changed from being a cynic because her mother appeared not to love her to someone with hope when she met William Spiver who became her friend and Ulysses and Dr. Meescham who saw hope and beauty in everything.

•William Spiver changed from a sad, blind boy who had been banished by his mother to a friend for Flora.

•Mr. Buckman changed from a wimpy, fearful man to a happy father and a stronger influence on his ex-wife.

Final Question

The Illuminated Adventuresby Kate DiCamillo

Most stories are told in one voice or from one point of view. This was different in Flora and Ulysses.

What were two points of view from which the story was told?

Why do you think the author chose to write the story in multiple points of view?

Why did this make the story better?

Final Answer

The Illuminated Adventuresby Kate DiCamillo

Flora and Ulysses was told in third-person omniscient focused on Flora and third person omniscient focused on Ulysses. All of the narration used third person pronouns like “he, she, it, they, and them.”

The focus gave the author the power to let the reader see the story from Flora’s point of view and understand why she felt as she did in some chapters. In other chapters, it gave the reader the ability to understand Ulysses’s thoughts even though he could not talk.

Answers vary about why it was better, but many will say it was more fun because they could relate better to it than hearing it told without focus. Some might have liked to hear the focus on Flora’s mother so they could understand why she was so mean!