Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

Aven Green was born without arms, and now that her parents are moving the family across the country to take over a rundown Arizonan theme park, she'll have to explain her differences again and again to a whole new group of people.

Then she makes a new friend with a disability of his own. This story includes a mystery to solve as well as themes of belonging, friendship, and finding your own way through life.

How Live Book Club Classes 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 will be an option to add a Feedback Add-On at checkout.)

Ages:

9-13

Dates:

May 1-31, 2024

Live Meeting:

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 from 1-2pm Eastern

(Note: This is not on Monday like most of my Book Club sessions due to Memorial Day).

Those who cannot attend the live session will receive a recorded summary.

Content Note:

This book contains mild mentions of imagined violence (character imagines punching someone if she had arms). It contains some dark humor about disability (such as imagining if an arm transplant from a serial killer would make her arms deadly). Mention of divorce, death, adoption, and struggles of living with a disability.

Supplies:

A copy of the book Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling (ISBN: 978-1-4549-3299-4). Borrowed, audio, and used formats are fine.

• Zoom account for live session
• Microphone and camera for live session
• PDF reader
• Access to printer recommended