Grade PreK–2Individuality & Perspective

Ursula Upside Down

Written & Illustrated by Corey R. Tabor

Ursula does everything upside down — she eats upside down, reads upside down, and sees the whole world from a different angle. When the other animals don't understand her unusual way of doing things, Ursula shows them that sometimes the best view is the one nobody else has tried.

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From the Library Director

Corey R. Tabor's art is pure joy — loose, expressive, and full of personality. This book is a delight to read aloud because kids immediately want to try hanging upside down themselves. It's a gentle, funny celebration of being exactly who you are, and it pairs beautifully with any unit on identity, belonging, or growth mindset.

Big Idea

The way you see the world is your superpower — and the things that make you different are often the things that make you extraordinary.

Discussion Questions

1
Why does Ursula do everything upside down? Does she have a reason, or is it just who she is?
2
How did the other animals react to Ursula at first? Have you ever felt like others didn't understand something about you?
3
What happened when the other animals tried seeing the world from Ursula's perspective? What does that tell us?
4
What does it mean to see things from a different 'perspective'? Can you think of a time you changed your mind after looking at something differently?
5
Ursula never tries to change herself to fit in. Do you think that was hard for her? What helped her stay confident?
6
What is something you do differently from most people around you? How does that make you feel?
7
How does Corey R. Tabor use the illustrations to show Ursula's upside-down world? What details made you look twice?
8
If you could see the world from any unusual angle or perspective — underwater, from a treetop, from a tiny ant's view — what would you choose and why?

Activity: My Upside-Down View

Students explore perspective — literally and figuratively — by drawing a familiar scene from an unexpected angle and writing about what they notice that they wouldn't have seen before.

1
Think of a place you know well — your classroom, your bedroom, your backyard. Draw it the way it normally looks.
2
Now flip your paper upside down and draw the same place from an unusual angle: from the ceiling looking down, from the floor looking up, or from outside a window looking in.
3
Write two sentences: one thing you noticed in your upside-down drawing that you didn't see in your normal drawing, and one thing that surprised you.
4
Share both drawings with a partner. Discuss: how does changing your perspective change what you notice? How is this like what Ursula does in the story?

Standards Connections

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3 — With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.6 — Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.3 — Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.4 — Describe familiar people, places, things, and events with prompting and support.
Social-Emotional Learning — Build self-awareness, confidence in individual identity, and appreciation for diverse perspectives.
Visual Literacy — Analyze how an illustrator's choices about angle, layout, and composition shape meaning and mood.