55 pages • 1 hour read
Dusti BowlingThe Canyon's Edge
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: Literature
Across the Desert by Dusti Bowling (2021)
Bowling returns readers to the Desert Southwest with the story of 12-year-old Jolene, who strikes out across the forbidding landscape to rescue a stranded tween ultralight pilot.
Connect the Stars by Melissa de los Santos and David Teague (2015)
Misfits Aaron and Audrey find friendship at a wilderness camp in the desert.
Distress Signal by Mary E. Lambert (2020)
When Lavender’s class is caught in a flash flood in the desert, she must put aside her differences with her former best friend and team up with a mean girl and a boy named John to survive.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen (2000)
In this Newbery Honor winner, Brian is the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and has only the clothes on his back and a hatchet.
Long Way Down by Jayson Reynolds (2017)
Fifteen-year-old Will seeks revenge for the shooting death of his brother in this tense young adult novel in verse. The story explores themes of grief and the cycle of violence.
Further Reading: Beyond Literature (Nonfiction)
Can You Survive the Desert? An Interactive Survival Adventure (You Choose: Survival) by Matt Doeden (2012)
Readers learn about survival skills and desert dangers as they make choices that determine whether they survive or perish. This collection includes Desert, Antarctic, and Lost at Sea.
Shot: 101 Survivors of Gun Violence in America by Kathy Shorr (2017)
Shorr features photographs and biographies of people who have survived gun violence. Her emphasis is on “survivorhood.”
Web Articles
In their 2023 State of America's Children Report, the Children’s Defense Fund discusses the problem of gun violence in the US and offers a vision for a solution.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Disaster and Trauma Resource Center offers information for parents on how to help children and adolescents process and understand traumatic events. The Academy also provides valuable information on helping youths with PTSD.
Teens Health uses clear language to describe PTSD symptoms, causes, treatment, and how teens can help alleviate their symptoms.
The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum fact sheets are a great source for learning about the different animals and plants in the Sonoran Desert. Each sheet includes a photo of the plant or animal and lists information about habitats, diets, predators, and more. The collection includes fact sheets on more than 10 species of bats alone.
Video Resources
Sonoran Desert Life
“The Deadliest Scorpion in America! (Part 2)” by Brave Wilderness (4:56)
Watch as adventurer and animal expert Coyote Peterson finds and cautiously, respectfully handles a bark scorpion—the same venomous one that stings Nora in The Canyon’s Edge. This tense video provides fascinating facts about the deadly species, which stings only when agitated.
“8 Edible Wild Plants of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert (And How to Use Them!!!)” by Legacy Wilderness Academy (23:03)
This video features several of the same foods Nora sourced during her ordeal in the canyon, including mesquite beans and prickly pears. It includes great shots of the Sonoran Desert landscape.
“Mammals & Biomes of the Sonoran Desert” by NPS Inventory and Monitoring (9:57)
The National Park Service celebrates the Sonoran Desert biome, featuring photos and videos of desert inhabitants, including a kangaroo rat.
“Rattlesnakes of Arizona” by Living Zoology (21:00)
Excerpts from the longer film, the Desert of Rattlesnakes, offer an amazing look at the different species of rattlesnakes that live in Arizona and the Sonoran Desert.
Arizona National Monuments and Parks
Nora visits each of these breathtaking destinations with her parents in the “Before” section of the book. These three videos offer stunning views of each site:
“Antelope Canyon” by Amazing Places on Our Planet (8:11)
This highlights the colors and layered walls of this incredible slot canyon.
“Canyon de Chelly” by Amazing Places on Our Planet (8:54)
“Montezuma Castle and Well” by Ancient Architects (10:42)
Free-Soloing
Nora free-soloes the 40-foot canyon wall without any safety gear. To better understand what a huge accomplishment that is, watch professional rock climber Alex Honnold achieve the first free-solo of El Capitan—over 2,500 feet—in Yosemite National Park. These clips of his jaw-dropping ascent are from the 2018 National Geographic film Free Solo:
“Free Solo (2018) Climbing Scenes” by OneLife (4:21)
“Free Solo – Trailer” by National Geographic (2:27)
The Payson Flood
“Into the Water” by Michael Kiefer
This interactive article tells the story of the deadly 2017 Payson, Arizona, flood that took the lives of 10 people in the same family. That event partially inspired Bowling to write The Canyon’s Edge. The article offers in-depth information about the formation of flash floods and includes first-person accounts from survivors.
Beatles Songs
Nora’s mom loved The Beatles. In her poems “Let It Be” and “Beatles Dream,” Nora describes how these songs had special significance for the family:
“Blackbird” (2:48)
“In My Life” (2:26)
“Let It Be” (3:52)
“Hey Jude” (4:35)
“Here Comes the Sun” (3:05)
“Yesterday” (2:32)
“Golden Slumbers” (1:31)
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