The Sapling Cage
by Margaret Killjoy
In the gripping first novel in the Daughters of the Empty Throne trilogy, author Margaret Killjoy spins a tale of earth magic, power struggle, and self-invention in an own-voices story of trans witchcraft.
Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy.
When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse. (Goodreads synopsis)
Content Notes: violence, transphobia, magic, scary situations, interpersonal conflict, death.
Representation: transgender representation (trans girl/woman), rejecting gender norms, complex friendships, light asexual/aromantic representation, positive representation of witches (non gender essentialist).
How These Live Book Clubs Work
Participation in the live book club includes access to a set of resources and activities as well as interactive components.
Participants receive
- A suggested reading schedule
- PDF reading guides with comprehension questions
- Vocabulary/reading activities
- Discussion board posts in our online classroom
- Writing/multimodal project prompts related to the reading
- An invitation to a live discussion
- A recording of the summary of the live discussion
- An optional feedback add-on for the final paper/project
- Rubrics for at-home feedback
Families are welcome to use as much or as little of the suggested resources and activities as they'd like to fit their interest and schedules.
(There is an option to add a Feedback Add-on for Final Projects at checkout.)
Ages:
13-18
Dates:
September 1-30, 2025
Live Meeting:
Friday, September 26, 2025
1:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM CT / 11:00 AM MT / 10:00 AM PT
Sessions typically last around 1 hour.
Those who cannot attend the live session will receive a recorded summary.
(Note: If there is high enrollment, additional live sessions may be opened to keep sessions small enough for meaningful discussion.)
Supplies:
- A copy of the book The Sapling Cage (ISBN 9781558613317)
- Used and borrowed copies will work just fine! If your learner is going to participate in final projects and reading guides, I recommend having a physical copy even if they primarily read the audiobook.
- See Dayla Learning's affiliate Bookshop List
- Zoom account for live session
- Microphone and camera for live session (optional)
- PDF reader
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Access to printer if you want to print worksheets