Flora And Ulysses

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Superheroes come from all sorts of backgrounds, but specific traits mark them as superheroes. What is a superhero to you? How does a superhero act, and what does a superhero believe in? How does a superhero influence the world?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will likely be familiar with common superheroes like Spiderman or Batman. While they are welcome to use these as prototypes, encourage them to consider what other forms a superhero might take. Two of the novel’s themes, Becoming Illuminated and The Possibility of the Impossible can be used to guide students’ responses if desired.

• “Chinese Female Kung-Fu Superheroes” - Teresa Mei Chuc’s poem praises unlikely, real-life superheroes.

2. Flora and Ulysses deals with family issues such as divorce, family conflict and separation, and feeling unable to relate to one’s family. What can happen to families when these issues go unaddressed? How can families who are having trouble communicating learn to open up to each other again?

Teaching Suggestion: This question helps prepare students for some of the novel’s subject matter while allowing them to think about family issues from the perspective of consequences and solutions. Due to its sensitive nature, the prompt may be best answered in a private written response.

• “Family Issues” - This hub provides articles covering a variety of family issues, including arguments and divorce. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing)

Short Activity

After discussing what family issues may take place in the novel and ways in which families can work through these issues, work in small groups to create a skit in which an everyday family issue is addressed in a healthy way.

Teaching Suggestion: Students can use this opportunity to put themselves in the shoes of the characters in the novel, particularly Flora and William; they may become better prepared to empathize with the characters during reading. This short activity also offers a way to approach the text in a kinesthetic manner.

• “Research about Family Perceptions via Pictures of Children from Problematic Families or Having Divorced Parents” - This article examines how children depict happy and conflicted families via illustrations. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing)
• “Please Explain: What Makes a Happy Family?” - This article details how happy families are not necessarily free of conflict—rather, they learn to handle these conflicts in healthy ways. (Teacher-appropriate; not student-facing)

Differentiation Suggestion: English language learners might be encouraged to adopt a speaking role, or they might prefer to take on a role that only uses body language. If this activity might broach potential sensitivities for individuals in your class, it can be adapted into a skit involving characters from a recently read story who address conflict in a healthy way.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Hope helps Flora and Ulysses navigate their lives and respective conflicts. Ulysses’s feats promote the belief that anything can happen, lending to the novel’s theme, The Possibility of the Impossible. What do you believe in? How do these beliefs influence your choices in life and the people around you?

Teaching Suggestion: Hope means different things to different people. It may be beneficial to remind students that this is an open-ended question with no wrong answer; responses may range from belief in a religion, belief in themselves, or belief in a trait such as honesty. This prompt can prime students for Flora’s belief in superheroes, and how this helps her heal.

• “Arthur C. Clarke on Belief in the Impossible” - This is a quote from author Arthur C. Clarke criticizing those who dismiss anything as impossible.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who are more concrete thinkers and might benefit from starters in abstract topics, it may be useful to conduct an in-class discussion prior to having students answer this prompt. Possible starters might include: When have you felt hopeful about something? What does it mean to “believe”? How do hope and belief make you act?