{"product_id":"flora-and-ulysses-tiein-edition-isbn-9781536217360","title":"Flora and Ulysses: Tie-in Edition","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e bestseller! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe beloved 2014 Newbery Medal winner by former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Kate DiCamillo is now available in a movie tie-in edition.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHoly unanticipated occurrences! From #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters—a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black and white by K. G. Campbell.\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Natural-Born Cynic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFlora Belle Buckman was in her room at her desk. She was very busy. She was doing two things at once. She was ignoring her mother, and she was also reading a comic book entitled \u003ci\u003eThe Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   “Flora,” her mother shouted, “what are you doing up there?”\u003cbr\u003e   “I’m reading!” Flora shouted back.\u003cbr\u003e   “Remember the contract!” her mother shouted. “Do not forget the contract!”\u003cbr\u003e   At the beginning of summer, in a moment of weakness, Flora had made the mistake of signing a contract that said she would “work to turn her face away from the idiotic high jinks of comics and toward the bright light of true literature.”\u003cbr\u003e   Those were the exact words of the contract. They were her mother’s words.\u003cbr\u003e   Flora’s mother was a writer. She was divorced, and she wrote romance novels.\u003cbr\u003e   Talk about idiotic high jinks.\u003cbr\u003e   Flora hated romance novels.\u003cbr\u003e   In fact, she hated romance.\u003cbr\u003e   “I hate romance,” said Flora out loud to herself. She liked the way the words sounded. She imagined them floating above her in a comic-strip bubble; it was a comforting thing to have words\u003cbr\u003eI hate romance.\u003cbr\u003ehanging over her head. Especially negative words about romance.\u003cbr\u003e   Flora’s mother had often accused Flora of being a “natural-born cynic.”\u003cbr\u003e   Flora suspected that this was true.\u003cbr\u003eSHE WAS A NATURAL-BORN CYNIC WHO\u003cbr\u003eLIVED IN DEFIANCE OF CONTRACTS!\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e Yep,\u003c\/i\u003e thought Flora, \u003ci\u003ethat’s me. \u003c\/i\u003eShe bent her head and went back to reading about the amazing Incandesto.\u003cbr\u003e   She was interrupted a few minutes later by a very loud noise.\u003cbr\u003e   It sounded as if a jet plane had landed in the Tickhams’ backyard.\u003cbr\u003e   “What the heck?” said Flora. She got up from her desk and looked out the window and saw Mrs. Tickham running around the backyard with a shiny, oversize vacuum cleaner.\u003cbr\u003e   It looked like she was vacuuming the yard.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e That can’t be,\u003c\/i\u003e thought Flora. \u003ci\u003eWho vacuums their yard?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   Actually, it didn’t look like Mrs. Tickham knew \u003ci\u003ewhat \u003c\/i\u003eshe was doing.\u003cbr\u003e   It was more like the vacuum cleaner was in charge. And the vacuum cleaner seemed to be out of its mind. Or its engine. Or something.\u003cbr\u003e   “A few bolts shy of a load,” said Flora out loud.\u003cbr\u003e   And then she saw that Mrs. Tickham and the vacuum cleaner were headed directly for a squirrel.\u003cbr\u003e   “Hey, now,” said Flora.\u003cbr\u003e   She banged on the window.\u003cbr\u003e   “Watch out!” she shouted. “You’re going to vacuum up that squirrel!”\u003cbr\u003e   She said the words, and then she had a strange moment of seeing them, hanging there over her head.\u003cbr\u003e“You’re going to vacuum up\u003cbr\u003ethat squirrel!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e There is just no predicting what kind of sentences you might say,\u003c\/i\u003e thought Flora. \u003ci\u003eFor instance, who would ever think you would shout, “You’re going to vacuum up that squirrel!”?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   It didn’t make any difference, though, what words she said. Flora was too far away. The vacuum cleaner was too loud. And also, clearly, it was bent on destruction.\u003cbr\u003e   “This malfeasance must be stopped,” said Flora in a deep and superheroic voice.\u003cbr\u003e   “This malfeasance must be stopped” was what the unassuming janitor Alfred T. Slipper always said before he was transformed into the amazing Incandesto and became a towering, crime-fighting pillar of light.\u003cbr\u003e   Unfortunately, Alfred T. Slipper wasn’t present.\u003cbr\u003e   Where was Incandesto when you needed him?\u003cbr\u003e   Not that Flora really believed in superheroes. But still.\u003cbr\u003e   She stood at the window and watched as the squirrel was vacuumed up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e Poof. Fwump.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   “Holy bagumba,” said Flora.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER TWO\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Mind of a Squirrel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eNot much goes on in the mind of a squirrel.\u003cbr\u003e   Huge portions of what is loosely termed “the squirrel brain” are given over to one thought: food.\u003cbr\u003e   The average squirrel cogitation goes something like this: \u003ci\u003eI wonder what there is to eat.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   This “thought” is then repeated with small variations (e.g., \u003ci\u003eWhere’s the food? Man, I sure am hungry. Is that a piece of food? \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eAre there \u003c\/i\u003emore\u003ci\u003e pieces of food?\u003c\/i\u003e) some six or seven thousand times a day.\u003cbr\u003e   All of this is to say that when the squirrel in the Tickhams’ backyard got swallowed up by the Ulysses 2000X, there weren’t a lot of terribly profound thoughts going through his head.\u003cbr\u003e   As the vacuum cleaner roared toward him, he did not (for instance) think, \u003ci\u003eHere, at last, is my fate come to meet me!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   He did not think, \u003ci\u003eOh, please, give me one more chance and I will be good.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   What he thought was\u003ci\u003e Man, I sure am hungry.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   And then there was a terrible roar, and he was sucked right off his feet.\u003cbr\u003e   At that point, there were no thoughts in his squirrel head, not even thoughts of food.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER THREE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Death of a Squirrel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eSeemingly, swallowing a squirrel was a bit much even for\u003cbr\u003ethe powerful, indomitable, indoor\/outdoor Ulysses 2000X. Mrs. Tickham’s birthday machine let out an uncertain roar and stuttered to a stop.\u003cbr\u003e   Mrs. Tickham bent over and looked down at the vacuum cleaner.\u003cbr\u003e   There was a tail sticking out of it.\u003cbr\u003e   “For heaven’s sake,” said Mrs. Tickham, “what next?”\u003cbr\u003e   She dropped to her knees and gave the tail a tentative tug.\u003cbr\u003e   She stood. She looked around the yard.\u003cbr\u003e   “Help,” she said. “I think I’ve killed a squirrel.”","brand":"Candlewick Entertainment","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301951262949,"sku":"NP9781536217360","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781536217360.jpg?v=1767727473","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/flora-and-ulysses-tiein-edition-isbn-9781536217360","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}