【转】阿甲的评论：聊聊2014年度纽伯瑞奖金奖得主：Flora and Ulysses

远离尘嚣

http://player.56.com/v_MTA2MTEwNzEz.swf 早在去年就在shouchi的日志里发现这本书了，没想到居然拿到了14年的钮奖。 想看书么？找找看咯

聊聊2014年度纽伯瑞奖金奖得主：Flora and Ulysses (2014-02-06 13:39:00) 标签： 读书笔记 纽伯瑞奖 育儿 分类： 泥巴闲聊 过年确实制造了许多零碎的时间，可以穿插着读一点书。我回头清点了一下，从大年三十到初四期间，也读完了两本纽伯瑞金奖的作品，一本是中文版的《印第安人的麂皮靴》，一本是英文版的Flora and Ulysses。 《麂皮靴》其实很早就开始读了，但总是断在某处，好像没有多少驱动力一直读下去。过年从某种角度来看确实足够的无聊（尽管十分欢乐），所以终于能有足够的动力把它读完了。说实话读完了还是觉得这本书挺好的，挺感人也挺长见识的，唯一的缺点就是平时来读驱动力不够。书中有很丰富的美国地理知识，半部美国自驾游宝典，还有不少引导少年人写作的妙招，当然还有一些略带悬疑的心理成长故事，总之我觉得应该是美国的老师们很喜欢的那种书，技巧娴熟，知识丰富，富有教益。 Flora and Ulysses是纽伯瑞奖2014年的新科状元，出于强烈的好奇心我弄了一本Kindle版来看，正好也赶上本期研读会的主题，这个美国的儿童文学奖项最早的一本是房龙的《人类的故事》，最近的一本就是这一本，90多年过去了，两相比较，会是怎样的变化呢？ 说实话读这本新书挺考验我的耐性的，读完前三分之一仍然感到一头雾水，完全不知道作者想说什么，或者说“创作意图”吧。倒不是说字面上有多难（应该说读起来还是蛮轻松的），只是搞不清楚作者制造的那些人物、事件和对话到底想走向哪里，有时真的是感觉“莫名其妙”。好在是在过年期间，有大把的闲暇可以挥霍，喝早茶的百无聊赖、聊天的间歇、排队的等待、水上巴士上的晃荡……都可以顺便看上几眼，不知不觉中便向前推进了。 这里不得不赞一下这本书新颖的体例。书的全名应该是：Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures（弗洛拉和尤利西斯：图画冒险故事），意思是书中的故事至少有一部分是用图画讲述的，所以创作者不仅仅是文字作者，插画者也是共同的创作者。分别是：Kate DiCamillo（凯特·迪卡米洛，作者），K.G. Campbell （K.G.坎贝尔，插画者）。总体来说，这仍然是一本小说，但故事却是从漫画开始的，或者说是小说的引子是漫画故事。抓一张图看看： 乍一看，你可能“误以为”这是一本漫画书，我想小读者们肯定会很愉快地翻看这本书的。另外作为一部相当长的小说，它自然也有章节，看目录的时候把我吓了一跳：居然有68章外加一个引子和一个尾声！——这要多久才能读完呀（金圣叹批的《水浒》也是七十回呢）。不过真翻开书看看，那叫一个“上当”，每一章短得可怜，长的不过5、6页，短的也就1、2页，读完一章的确很轻松（似乎很有成就感）。有的章节更过分，不过就是2-4页的漫画，好像是“辛苦”的阅读之余的一个轻松愉快的过门。比如第四十章，如下： 总之，经过作家和画家的共同努力，读这本“小说”实在是很轻松愉快的事情，尽管读了前三分之一我仍然感觉有点莫名其妙。我猜测这种“莫名其妙”部分原因是来自文化和年龄的差异。书中涉及到的一些老美的流行元素在我这个“老外”读来实在是有些隔膜，另外也许真是年纪大了，对这种漫画式的叙事方式颇有些不习惯？ 不过对于这位作家迪卡米洛，我自信还是多少有些了解的，她的《傻狗温迪克》是某年纽伯瑞的银奖，《浪漫鼠德佩罗》是前几年的一个金奖，小说还不错，拍成的电影也蛮好看的，另外还有一本《爱德华的奇妙之旅》也还行。她的文笔很优美，讲述故事的技巧很高，通常也很温情很浪漫，如果要挑点儿“毛病”，我感觉就是有时似乎太“说教”了一点，或者说有时感觉不太自然。 但这个《弗洛拉和尤利西斯》的故事讲到三分之一的时候，我确实不清楚迪卡米洛这一回想讲个什么故事。故事的整体发展好像一出肥皂剧。主场景设在十岁女孩弗洛拉的家，她酷爱漫画，迷恋漫画故事中的某个超级英雄（现实生活中很平凡的那种），那曾是父亲和她共同喜爱的漫画英雄；可父亲现在与母亲离异了，弗洛拉的母亲是一位作家，喜爱写浪漫故事，仇视漫画。故事开始时，母亲在厨房的旧打字机上写作，弗洛拉在二楼偷偷看漫画，想象着那位超级英雄，然后看到院子里邻居家的一台新吸尘器发疯似地拖着女主人乱转，把什么都吸进去，直到吸进一只松鼠…… 故事的开场的确相当闹腾，虽然很有漫画色彩，但仍然是走写实的一路。但不知怎么，路子突然一变，弗洛拉在楼上大喊，她的话居然漂浮在空中，变成了漫画中的对话框。然后她冲下楼去救那只松鼠，松鼠的意识也成了故事中的一部分，直到弗洛拉用人工呼吸（嘴对嘴的）把松鼠救活，奇迹发生了：饥饿的松鼠为了找吃的东西，一只手就把那台笨重的吸尘器举了起来！——弗洛拉当场就“意识”到：这只松鼠就是她的超级英雄，她用吸尘器的品牌来为它命名——尤利西斯。也许不是巧合，弗洛拉是罗马神话中的花神，尤利西斯也是希腊神话中的英雄奥德修斯的罗马名字。 故事至此进入了三重逻辑（至少是三重吧）的体系中：（1）真实生活：弗洛拉和她的作家妈妈，还有准备接她出去玩的爸爸，邻居太太和她的侄孙威廉，以及爸爸寓所的邻居Meescham博士——他们围绕着弗洛拉和松鼠尤利西斯发生的故事；（2）漫画世界：弗洛拉所沉浸的漫画世界的逻辑体系，她根据自己从漫画故事中的经验为每个真实人物设定的位置，以及遇到各种情形时的对策；（3）幻想故事或超现实生活：主线是发生了神奇变化的松鼠，这位尤利西斯真的产生了某种超能力，会飞行、与人交流，还会在打字机和电脑键盘上书写，甚至会写诗。 故事由这三重逻辑交织着向前推进，前半部分看似颇为随意，随着松鼠尤利西斯一次又一次展现出超能力，故事的车轮十分喧闹地滚动着，只是不知想要去向何方……直到弗洛拉的妈妈决心要“除掉”这只讨厌的松鼠时，方向才似乎渐趋明朗（虽然私下里我以为仍然稍嫌勉强）。 故事的结局，自然是皆大欢喜，但具体如何，我就不能再剧透了。但回头来清算一下，你会发现迪卡米洛再次展现了非常高超的叙事技巧，在一个很家常的故事融入了幻想与漫画元素，居然最后也呈现出她特别擅长的温馨和浪漫。尤其是在插画家的共同努力下，让这样一个故事在阅读上变得异常的轻松活泼。 特别值得一提的是，虽然作家吸纳了许多流行元素，把整本书弄得漫画兮兮的，但她在语言上还是做了很精致的处理，看似不经意间掺杂了一些颇有难度却很贴切的词汇，尤其是通过那位絮絮叨叨的话痨——对科学和哲学颇为痴迷的11岁男孩威廉和多少有点神神叨叨的哲学博士Meescham太太的掺和，让这个故事中增添了不少科学名词和对哲学的玄思，我倒是觉得这部分相当精彩，颇显作家的功力。还有在对语言的细腻处理，直至对诗歌创作的探讨，借助松鼠的推进也是蛮成功的，我想这恐怕也会很受中小学老师们的欢迎。总的来说，我觉得这些似乎是“副产品”的东西比整本书的主线好像还成功一些。 仅从读完一遍的感觉来说，我觉得这是一部相当成功的作品，但未必能成为经典，主要是能够真正触及情感深处的部分似乎严重不足。不过，因为成功地合成了多种元素，它一定会受到不少孩子和大人（尤其是老师们）的喜爱。总之是一本相当讨人喜欢的书。

转自阿甲博客：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5881300c0102e948.html

远离尘嚣

Holy Bagumba! NoveList Talks About Flora & Ulysses

Post by NoveList Posted December 17, 2013 in Kids & Book News, NoveList K-8 Plus, Readers' Advisory News

Some NoveList staff members recently sat down to talk about a book that's been getting a lot of buzz -- both in our office and in the book world at large -- Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. This wholly unique book is a story about comic-reading, self-proclaimed cynic Flora Buckman and Ulysses, a squirrel that demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after Flora rescues him from a mishap with a vacuum cleaner. Kathy: Here we are talking about Flora & Ulysses, and I guess the first thing we should do is talk about whether we liked or didn’t like it. We’ve all talked a little about it over the coffee pot, and it seems like the consensus is a big thumbs up. Beth: Two big thumbs up! Lisa: I really liked it. I think her writing gets me involved more than any other children’s writer, so throughout the whole thing I wasn’t analyzing over here on the side, I was involved in the story and that was great. Kathy: What about you, Rebecca? Rebecca: Oh, definitely. I liked the overwhelming sense of hopefulness. For all the fluffiness and silliness the hopefulness felt…hard won. I think getting that combination of deeper stuff, and then flying squirrels… I literally laughed and cried. Kathy: So Beth, I know you love it, but why don’t you tell us why you love it. Beth: I know I kept asking everyone around the office “Did you read it? You should read it! Everybody needs to read it!” I sat on a plane for a very long flight and pulled the book out, and you know the lights are low, and I’m sitting reading, and just all of a sudden gave such a loud laugh and got a glare from my family member on the other side of me. And it’s not very often that I laugh out loud when reading a book, and in a public space. I just could not contain myself. And after two or three of these disruptions my family member leaned over to see what it was I was reading. She’s a good bit older than a person who would read this book, but she said “When you’re done, I want to read that.” So it scored on many ways with someone who doesn’t always like what her parent reads but I just enjoyed it from start to finish, and I’m very excited about it. Kathy: I thought the comic book style art -- when I read reviews of the book I wondered how that would be done, and if it would stop the flow of the prose – but I think for me it actually propelled the story, and filled in some gaps and provided that wacky view of Ulysses and gave a sense of him and what he was all about. Danielle: Well and on that note, I really liked the art because of how Flora and her dad read graphic novels together -- it felt like it really tied the two things together, how you could see the words floating over everyone’s head, and also the other thing I liked, like Rebecca said, was the sense of hopefulness. Flora kept describing herself as a cynic and that she refused to hope, but those were just words she’s saying to herself but she still can’t stop herself from hoping. Kathy: What kind of reader do you think would go for this book? Age-wise and genre-wise? Lisa: I’m wondering if the graphic novel aspect increases its appeal. Rebecca: It’s also very browser-friendly, so if you just hand it to a kid they get a good sense of it through the visuals in a flip-through, which is a selling point. Kathy: Could you see reading it to a younger child? Your child [Danielle’s son Gabe] is still pretty young. Danielle: I could, actually. The language, like “Holy bagumba!” and “Holy unanticipated occurences!" would really appeal to him.

Beth: I like the idea of using it for middle-grade students. It gives kids an experience if, you’re hearing it out loud, to stop and think about it and laugh at it and grow with that kind of writing style throughout the book where the character does stop and think out loud. Kathy: So, let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about the characters. Who were your favorites, and why? Lisa: Knowing what a squirrel was thinking [big laugh from the group] you just can’t really beat that. Rebecca: I think you’d be hard-pressed to not say Ulysses. He’s so delightfully free of baggage, which is one of the things that made the book so charming and uplifting. You’ve got these humans who are all sort of damaged in some way. They’re hurt and even if they can’t talk about it, they heal a little bit through the book -- all in the midst of this magical squirrel who is busy thinking about sprinkles and cheese puffs! Beth: I adored Flora. I didn't think I would, but I was captured by her and just loved her all the way through, just as a unique character. Lisa: I was wondering what people thought about the characters of the parents. Flora said in the beginning she was ignoring her mother but in the end the story becomes so much about her family. It really surprised me once I realized that. Kathy: You got a real picture of Flora and her dad reading the comics together. In a way I felt like Flora thought her dad was the only one who “got her.” I liked knowing that about her.

[Rebecca shows the illustration of Flora putting her hand over her dad’s heart] Rebecca: That was the part where I cried. Beth: What about the William character? Rebecca: I liked that Flora didn’t really like him at first, he was another kind of “stuck” person and he kept her a little bit stuck too. And I liked that all these characters made progress. Danielle: And I liked that Ulysses wanted to write a poem about William going back home. That to me was very touching. Kathy: Ulysses was just a pretty special person -- squirrel. Alright, final thoughts? Beth: Do you think kids would read it a second time? Lisa: Maybe, I can see a kid going back and looking for all the “Holy bagumbas!” Beth: I can see, in a school setting, if they’re doing it as a class read-aloud and it’s ten minutes before lunch, let’s read another chapter! There is a compelling force in the story that will keep kids connected and they’ll want to read on their own. Lisa: And the squirrel -- he’s the compelling force! Rebecca: The characters are so memorable. When you’re re-reading, you’re not reading for the plot, you want to revisit your old friends. Danielle: It’s offbeat enough that I think you could read it again without getting tired of it. Kathy: Agreed. I think too that as kids grow up they’ll see different things about it. So it seems like it would stand the test of time. Beth: I was going to ask if you think it has that staying power. It seems like we agree kids are going to revisitFlora & Ulysses again and again. 转自：http://www.ebscohost.com/novelist-blog/novelist-article/holy-bagumba

Hannah

进来学习一下,作者得了好几次纽奖了.

wherezhang

Kate DiCamillo好厉害啊，太崇拜她了

lucyss

学习一下

风淡云清518

谢谢楼主的介绍，我也是进来学习的！

美灵儿小丫丫

多谢如此详细的介绍！

jerry-king

“读了前三分之一我仍然感觉有点莫名其妙” 的确很多书都是这种感觉呀

Guan4347

路过，学习一下

茶冷

谢谢介绍，又知道了一本新书