{"id":10714,"date":"2014-03-13T04:04:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T08:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/?p=10714"},"modified":"2014-03-13T04:04:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T08:04:10","slug":"round-1-match-4-far-far-away-vs-flora-and-ulysses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/2014\/03\/13\/round-1-match-4-far-far-away-vs-flora-and-ulysses\/","title":{"rendered":"Round 1, Match 4: Far Far Away vs Flora and Ulysses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>JUDGE – SARAH MLYNOWSKY<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Far Far Away
\n<\/strong><\/span>by Tom McNeal
\n<\/span>Knopf\/Random House<\/span><\/td>\n		Flora & Ulysses
\n<\/strong>by Kate DiCamillo
\n<\/span>Candlewick Press<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, on a couch in my apartment, there were two books, Flora & Ulysses<\/em> by Kate DiCamillo and Far Far Away<\/em> by Tom McNeal. One book I liked. The other I loved. One I can\u2019t wait to read to my daughters. The other I\u2019m planning on hiding from my daughters until they\u2019re at least twenty-seven.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with Flora & Ulysses<\/em>. The novel begins with a truly inventive and hilarious premise: A squirrel is sucked up by a fancy vacuum cleaner and turned into a superhero. I love a good superhero story\u2014and this superhero doesn\u2019t just fly or set things on fire. He can type and write poetry. He\u2019s a literary <\/em>superhero. Sigh. My hero.<\/p>\n

Ten-year-old Flora is a comic book lover and according to her mother \u201ca natural-born cynic.\u201d Her cynicism is partly due to the recent divorce of her father, who Flora refers to as \u201cthe world\u2019s loneliest man,\u201d and her romance-writer mother. After witnessing the squirrel\u2019s transformation, Flora names him Ulysses and befriends him. Life is looking up. Or it would be if Flora\u2019s mother wasn\u2019t trying to kill Ulysses and stuff him in a garbage bag.<\/p>\n

Flora & Ulysses<\/em> is undeniably adorable. Sprinkled throughout the book are delightful illustrations and comic book strips by K.G. Campbell. Ulysses is sweet and funny and exuberant. And I related to Flora. Make that, I really<\/em> related to Flora. Her mother writes romance novels. My <\/em>mother wrote romance novels! Her parents got divorced when she was a kid. My<\/em> parents got divorced when I was a kid! In the divorce\u2019s aftermath, Flora is drowning in anger\/resentment\/sadness\/confusion\/hopelessness\/doom. Ditto. Also, my pet turtle \u201cdisappeared\u201d one day and the details are still murky (although I suspect my dad). I\u2019ve read a lot of books about how kids deal with divorce, and this one nailed<\/em> it. It felt emotionally raw and completely authentic.<\/p>\n

But as charming as Ulysses is, and as much as I related to so many things about Flora, I wished I hadn\u2019t anticipated exactly what was going to happen and what piece of furniture would have to break for it to take place. And while the book\u2019s subject matter hit my sweet spot, the precociousness of the kids (they use words like \u201csepulchral\u201d and \u201ctreacle\u201d) and the quirkiness of all the characters did not. At times the book felt like the adaptation of a Wes Anderson movie, which, for most writers I know, would be the greatest of compliments. But I\u2019ve always found Anderson\u2019s heightened artificiality distracting\u2014all that precocity and quirk throw me out of the story. In Flora & Ulysses<\/em>, quirk is omnipresent. The boy next door constantly refers to himself by his full name, William Spiver. The dad introduces himself every time he walks through a door. Dr. Meescham is from Blundermeecen and has a horsehair sofa. I feel the same way about quirk as I do about salt: A little goes a long way. And this book is an ocean.<\/p>\n

That said, Flora & Ulysses<\/em> is well-crafted, fast-paced and full of heart. And I love the message that anything is possible. My oldest daughter is five and I can\u2019t wait to share it with her in a few years. I have no doubt that she\u2019ll find the idea of a flying, typing, poetry-writing squirrel hysterical.<\/p>\n

Far Far Away<\/em> has what at first seems like its own hearty helping of quirk. In the very beginning, we discover that the story is being narrated by the ghost of Jacob Grimm. Yes, that <\/em>Jacob Grimm. I was skeptical. While imaginative, it seemed like a gimmicky and possibly unnecessary choice. I was also confused about the tone and the setting. On the one hand, the world felt fantastical and old-fashioned. The \u201cvillage\u201d where the story takes place has a town baker who makes magical pastries and is so tough to find, it \u201ccan only be seen from the corner of the eye.\u201d Yet the world also felt oddly contemporary. Characters call things \u201cfreaking fabulous\u201d and watch game shows. But as I turned the pages, the setting and narrator choice began to feel right to me. Many of the original fairy tales have one foot in the real world and one in fantasy, so why shouldn\u2019t this? And the original tales were collected and recounted by the Grimms. Wasn\u2019t a ghostly Grimm narrator the perfect way to let a modern tale be recounted by one, too? As I got deeper into the story, the unusual narrator\u2014and the unique tone and setting that came along with it\u2014felt less like a gimmick and more like a stroke of genius.<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s pace was slower than that of Flora & Ulysses<\/em>, and the writing denser. Things happen, but gradually, and are often interrupted with tangents and backstories. Luckily, there is a ton of foreshadowing to keep the tension tight. On the very first page we\u2019re told that one character has \u201ctendencies so tortured and malignant\u201d that Grimm can barely talk about them. \u201cI will though,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is a promise. I will.\u201d About halfway through the book I started to worry: Where was this evil that kept being hinted at but had yet to appear? Jacob Grimm was narrating this story! When Jacob Grimm\u2014he of the chopped off heads (\u201cTwelve Dancing Princesses\u201d), red-hot iron shoes (\u201cSnow White\u201d) and pigeon-pecked out eyes (\u201cCinderella\u201d) \u2014tells me things are about to get scary, I believe him. But maybe they wouldn\u2019t? This was a book for young readers after all…<\/p>\n

Oh, boy.<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t have worried. Or maybe I should have\u2014all the foreshadowing paid off. Without giving anything away, I will say that by the time I finished the book, I was shocked, amazed and officially creeped out.<\/p>\n

Far Far Away<\/em> is a page-turning mystery. It\u2019s a classic ghost story. It\u2019s a sweeping epic. It\u2019s also a bromance and a romance. Definitely a PG romance, but the banter is fun and the attraction believable. Flora & Ulysses<\/em> is a love story, too. While I wasn\u2019t sold on the connection between Flora and William Spiver (maybe I was too distracted by the quirk?), the love between Flora and Ulysses felt tender and true.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to avoid the audience question. Flora & Ulysses<\/em> is squarely middle grade, for 8-12-year-olds, but who is the ideal reader for Far Far Away<\/em>? It\u2019s pitched as 12 and up, but are teens interested in the fairy-tale tone and chaste romance? On the other hand, the themes seem way too dark for middle grade. Honestly, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be sharing Far Far Away<\/em> with my daughter for at least a decade. In fact part of me doesn\u2019t want her to read it ever<\/em>. As a parent I can\u2019t help but want to protect her from the grim (couldn\u2019t resist) fact that evil can, and does, lurk everywhere.<\/p>\n

So who\u2019s the ideal reader for this daringly original combination of fairy tales, innovative narration, gruesome plot twists, first love and shocking endings? Me. I couldn\u2019t put Far Far Away<\/em> down. It was brilliant. It was thrilling. It held me captive, and still hasn\u2019t let go.<\/p>\n

The bottom line? Flora & Ulysses<\/em> might be an easy sell to kids, but Far Far Away<\/em> blew me away. Winner: Far Far Away.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

— Sarah Mlynowski<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Newbery Curse strikes once again \u2013 deservedly? I love \u201cquirk.\u201d And I also love haunting fairy tales. Pretty much at a loss with this one\u2026two of the best books against each other in the first round\u2026In fact, I\u2019d really like it if Ulysses managed to pull off some theatrics right now, and display some of the book\u2019s great quirk. Flora & Ulysses<\/em> is, like Hokey Pokey<\/em> and True Blue Scouts<\/em>, a hilarious burst of childhood optimism on the verge of collapse. Powerful stuff for a nostalgic 14-year-old. Not to degrade Far Far Away<\/em>, which also had wonderful imagination, characters, and humor and was a very well done book indeed \u2013 maybe, for me, just not quite as fantastical. But I\u2019d still pick the Brothers Grimm over Eleanor and Park to battle with Little Bao (or The Animal Book<\/em>) for the finals.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Kid Commentator RGN<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

THE WINNER OF ROUND 1 MATCH 4:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

FAR FAR AWAY<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JUDGE – SARAH MLYNOWSKY Far Far Away by Tom McNeal Knopf\/Random House Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo Candlewick Press Once upon a time, on a couch in my apartment, there were two books, Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo and Far Far Away by Tom McNeal. One book I liked. The other I loved. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":11056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-19","8":"category-round-1","9":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/02\/BoB2014_MG_R1_M4.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/02\/BoB2014_MG_R1_M4.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Battle Commander","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/author\/battle-commander\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.slj.com\/battleofthebooks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}