We worked really hard retelling one of the best stories in our reading books, The Cactus Hotel by Brenda Guiberson. This story follows the life cycle of a cactus from seed to death. The author’s purpose was to inform. We retold it in first person narrative to inform and entertain.

We imagined what it would be like to be a cactus in the desert. Here are some samples from our books.

January 26, 1913 

Today I saw the bright world for the very first time. Boom! I fell from the tall cactus onto the sandy desert floor. I’m a tiny little seed ready to be a tall cactus like my mother . A hungry pack rat came and ate some fruit. Then I was stuck to his thin whisker. ‘’ Hey, let me down.’’ He couldn’t hear my little voice. Then I fell off his whisker under a huge paloverde tree. ‘’ Hooray’’. Rough rainstorms came and I started to sprout little roots. Then I grew.

                     (written by Kendra)

Jan. 26, 1913

Hello, world! Here I am! I came to this world from a big red fruit that fell off the segro cactas . 2,000 seeds tumbled inside the fruit then landed on the desert floor. A big packrat came and ate my home. After that I got stuck on the packrat’s whisker. “Help Help” I yelled, but no one heard me. I was so worried. Next he went past a paloverde tree. Then suddenly I dropped. A couple hours latter it started to rain. After that I started to sprout.

                    (written by Brittany)

January 26, 1968

I’m back again and I’m fifty years old and 10 feet tall. I’m still under the paloverde tree, but I like it there. I didn’t know this until the birds were on me. I was growing flowers. The birds were eating the nectar. I didn’t like that. I guess my flowers died, but I still have one thing, my red fruit. Then a Gila woodpecker made a hotel out of me .I didn’t want to be a hotel. But, I like that Gila woodpecker because he ate the insects that could give me a disease. 

                     (written by Jacob S.)

January 26, 2113

I am two-hundred years old but I’m still fifty feet tall. It got really windy. I was tilting! CRASH! That hurt. I fell down. I guess this is the end of my life. My seven long arms crumble and break. The animals that used to live in my cactus hotel moved out. They went to find another cactus hotel. But millipedes, scorpions, ants, and termites were moving in me. I wish my wooden ribs were still holding me up. I don’t want die yet. CRASH! What was that? Oh, it was my friend in the forest of cacti. The bugs went in my friend’s cactus hotel. Even though I’m going to die, I’ll still be a cactus hotel for the bugs.

                      (written by Sunny P.)

After our books were published, we shared our books with the other third graders at a party. We had sandy cookies, nibbles of cactus pulp, desert crawlers, and sweet flower nectar for refreshments. It was yummy but the best part was reading the books of other “cactus authors.”