Classic literature · Ages 0–10

Ulysses

James Joyce once said that if Dublin suddenly vanished, it could be rebuilt from the pages of Ulysses. Our books walk a child through that city: its trams and river, its quays and chemist's shop, its lamplit streets after dark.

Choose a bookWhy we love it
Cover of Ulysses: A Toddler Book, for ages 0–4Ages 0–4Cover of Ulysses: A Picture Book, for ages 3–7Ages 3–7Cover of Ulysses: A Chapter Book, for ages 6–10Ages 6–10
Mr. Bloom stands on the shore at dusk watching fireworks burst over the bay, in soft crayon

A page from Ulysses: A Picture Book

Why we love it

Lemon soap.

Milly's bath has a little lemon soap, slippery and sweet, smelling of sunshine. Joyce gave the same soap to her father: Bloom buys it at Sweny's the chemist, carries it in his pocket all day, and late that night, in the novel's wildest chapter, it rises over him like a little sun and sings.

Toddler book, ages 0–4 ↓

Throwaway, twenty to one.

The newsboys in our picture book shout about a big race and a long-shot horse. In the novel that horse is Throwaway, the outsider in that day's Gold Cup, and it wins at twenty to one after Bloom tells a man he was just going to throw his newspaper away.

Picture book, ages 3–7 ↓

His mother's potato.

Mr. Bloom always carries a little potato in his pocket, an old habit from his mother, who believed a potato kept a body well. In the novel it is taken from him that night, and he asks for it back.

Chapter book, ages 6–10 ↓

Which book for your child?

Cover of Ulysses: A Toddler Book, for ages 0–4

Ages 0–4 · Toddler book · Read to them

Ulysses: A Toddler Book

One ordinary day, told at toddler size. Little Milly wakes, answers the cat’s mrkgnao, splashes in the tub with a little lemon soap, feeds the hungry gulls, watches fireworks bloom over the bay, and comes home to bed and a sleepy yes. Nothing happens, and everything does. A picture on every page, and, hidden underneath for the grown-up reading aloud, the shape of Mr. Bloom’s whole June day.

24 pages · about 310 words · cut-paper collage

Good to know
A grumpy man frowns at Milly while his little dog wags hello, and a tall black carriage (a funeral carriage in the novel) rolls past for her to wave at. The day ends with cocoa, stars and bed.
Parents will spot
Milly is the name of the Blooms' daughter in the novel, and the last page ends on “Yes,” the novel's final word.
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A little girl in a yellow dress smiles down at a gray cat rubbing against her legs, in cut-paper collage
The cat winds round and round her legs. "Mrkgnao," it says. Good morning, cat!
A man in a bowler hat and a little girl share a round sticky bun, crumbs on her dress, in cut-paper collage
Milly and Papa share a sticky bun. Crumbs on her chin and her knees.
A little girl stands at a tall bedroom window looking out at a sky full of stars, in cut-paper collage
Out the window, stars. One, two, too many to count. The whole sky.
Cover of Ulysses: A Picture Book, for ages 3–7

Ages 3–7 · Picture book · Read together

Ulysses: A Picture Book

Kind Mr. Bloom’s whole Dublin day, start to finish. He pours the cat’s milk, buys his little lemon soap, scatters crumbs for the gulls, stops for a song through an open door, and keeps his temper with a big loud man. And when he finds a lost young man alone in the dark, he does not walk past: he takes his arm and walks him all the way home before turning for his own front door and Molly.

36 pages · about 700 words · soft crayon

Good to know
Stephen spends the day sad and alone, and by night he is so tired he can barely stand. Earlier, a stranger shouts crossly at Mr. Bloom in a pub, and Bloom stays calm and leaves. The last page finds him asleep in his own bed.
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A woman sings in an open doorway as Mr. Bloom, in a bowler hat, walks by on the street, in soft crayon
Music spills from a hotel door. A lady is singing, sweet and high. Mr. Bloom stops for a moment to listen.
A man in a top hat rides in an open carriage behind prancing horses while a crowd watches, in soft crayon
Clip-clop! A grand parade of carriages clatters past, with shining horses and a fine lord waving to the crowd.
Mr. Bloom and the young man Stephen walk arm in arm under a streetlamp at night, in soft crayon
"Come along now," says Mr. Bloom, kindly. "It is late, and dark. Take my arm, and I'll see you safely home."
Cover of Ulysses: A Chapter Book, for ages 6–10

Ages 6–10 · Chapter book · They start reading alone

Ulysses: A Chapter Book

The whole day, fuller and deeper, with a foreword that lets a child in on the secret: that Joyce took Homer’s ten-year voyage home and dared to fit all of it inside one ordinary day. Mr. Bloom notices everything, keeps his temper, feeds the gulls, and carries a lost young man home through the dark streets, and by the last page a young reader can see that an ordinary person, watched closely and kindly, is a quiet kind of hero.

76 pages · about 7,400 words · 20 black-and-white drawings

Good to know
Early on, Mr. Bloom stands for a moment with mourners he half knows before a burial. Later, in a pub, a man tells him he is not a real Irishman and does not belong; Bloom answers quietly, walks out, and finds his hands shaking. Stephen is worn out, broke and alone until Bloom finds him.
Also inside
The afterword covers Bloomsday, the years the novel was banned and smuggled, and the map of Homer's Odyssey hidden inside it, down to a one-eyed giant.
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A thin young man in a long coat stands alone at the edge of a quay, looking across the water toward a distant city, in black-and-white line art
He was standing alone at the edge of the quay. A thin young fellow in black, hatless, looking out over the water at nothing at all.
Mr. Bloom sits on a rock on the beach with his shoes off beside him and a child playing in the sand behind, in black-and-white line art
Mr. Bloom found a dry rock and sat himself down to rest his aching feet.
An old sailor in a cap sits by a stove with one arm flung out as he talks, in black-and-white line art
By the stove sat an ancient sailor with a face like a cracked brown boot.

The original

The real Ulysses

  • James Joyce
  • Published in 1922
  • 18 episodes, about 265,000 words

It follows Leopold Bloom and the young Stephen Dedalus through Dublin on June 16, 1904, shadowing Homer's Odyssey episode by episode, and ends with Molly Bloom, awake in bed.

When you want more

From the blog

Why We Made Ulysses for Kids

Our three Ulysses books retell one Dublin day, June 16, 1904, for ages 0 to 10, keeping the cat, the soap, the gulls, and the walk home from Joyce's novel.

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