Pistes d'exploration

Discuss whether labels such as “gifted” are healthy for the individual and for the other students in a class.

Before reading, write about what the word “family” means. After finishing the book revisit your writing to see how your definition has been enriched.

Willow says, “I do not like to exclude people (I’m the one who is always excluded) so I know how that feels.” Write a personal response about how you connect to this statement, through personal experience or through texts that you have seen or read.

Read Bug in a Vacuum and discuss in small groups how a person works through the five stages of grief. Discuss how Willow does this in the story.

How can you comfort someone who has experienced great loss? Do some research online about how to help someone in a time of tragedy and make a 10-point list of do’s and don’ts. Share in small groups and make adjustments where necessary.

Authors often use symbolism to deepen their writing. Gardens, plants and growth are recurring symbols in this story. Make a Venn diagram with your ideas about these symbols on one side and Willow’s ideas on the other. In the middle, what do you have in common?

Before reading, write about what the word “family” means. What does “fitting in” mean? After finishing the book, revisit your writing to see how your definitions have been enriched.

Read Bug in a Vacuum and discuss in small groups how a person works through the five stages of grief. Discuss how Willow does this in the story.

As you read, create a story map that includes all of Willow’s life changes.

Discuss how the story’s title Counting by 7s is relevant to the lives of the characters in this book. What seven great people would you put in your life list? Write about them in your reader-writer’s notebook.

How can you comfort someone who has experienced great loss? Do some research online about how to help someone in a time of tragedy and make a 10-point list of do’s and don’ts. Share in small groups and make adjustments where necessary.

Bug in a Vacuum

Mots-clés

Realistic , character , community , death , diversity , family life , grief , individuality , kindness , loss , point of view , resilience , transformation

Commentaire descriptif

Willow Chance has an unusual mind and gifted intelligence, which makes fitting into Grade 7 a challenge. But when her parents die in a car crash, school is the least of her problems. While the system struggles to place her in care, Willow beds down with teen acquaintances Mai and Quang-Ha and their mother Pattie in an unconverted garage. Soon Dell (Willow and Quang-Ha’s barely competent school counselor) is providing the use of his apartment for the whole gang. Despite the jumble of eccentric personalities and slap-dash accommodations, bonds begin to form—to everyone’s benefit. In the process, Willow grows from being a kid who was especially dependent on her parents, to constructing a new family of her own. Willow Chance’s world is a place of wonder and happenstance. The near-surreal plot unfolds in chaotic yet balletic style, moving a cast of idiosyncratic characters through a tale rich with humour and one-liners. “There were police involved and social workers already on high alert. This was a nightmare. In so many ways. It was crucial that Dell look professional, which was one of the hardest things for him to do.” Tight sentences and brief paragraphs reflect Willow’s incisive, scientific mind. “Pattie Nguyen signed all kinds of things back there. So who knows what she just agreed to? The Old Me would have read every word of that paperwork. The New Me couldn’t care less.” Peopled with characters of diverse and mixed heritages, this book offers a refreshing and realistic image of North American society today. In this instance, the different cultures and personalities crash, clash and cooperate with the same blind functionality that Willow might observe in organisms under her microscope. In the end, the characters create an accidental community that is sustaining for all. This story is a feat of style—and great fun to read.