Kate DiCamillo: Hi, my name is Kate DiCamillo, and I wrote Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. I'm going to talk a little bit about where the book came from and then I'm going to read an excerpt to you.

So what happened was, there was a squirrel who looked like he was dying on my front steps, and I didn't know what to do for him. And I kept on going and standing over him and he wouldn't move and he was obviously in some distress. And I went inside and got my phone and came back outside and I called one of my best friends who lives a block and a half away and I said "there's a squirrel dying on my front steps and I don't know what to do."

And this friend, who has asked me not to say her name, but who is truly the sweetest of all of my friends said, "Do you have a shovel?" And I said,"Well yeah, I have a shovel." And she said, "Get the shovel. Get a T-shirt. I'll come over there and I'll whack the squirrel over the head." That's where the book started for me. I started to think about ways to save the squirrel's life. That squirrel, that particular squirrel, must have heard what my friend said on the phone because he went off someplace else and I did not see him after that conversation with her. But that incident was the beginning for Flora and Ulysses.

Chapter One: A natural born cynic.

Florabel 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 The Illuminated Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto.

"Flora," her mother shouted. "What are you doing up there?"

"I'm reading," Flora shouted back.

"Remember the contract," her mother shouted. "Do not forget the contract." At the beginning of summer, in a moment of weakness, Flora had made the mistake of signing a contract that said she would, quote "work to turn her face away from the idiotic hi-jinks of comics and towards the bright light of true literature" end quote. Those were the exact words of the contract. They were her mother's words.

Flora's mother was a writer. She was divorced and she wrote romance novels. Talk about idiotic hi-jinks. Flora hated romance novels, in fact she hated romance.

"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 hanging over her head, especially negative words about romance. Flora's mother had often accused Flora of being a natural born cynic. Flora suspected that this was true.