Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (Life of a Cactus Series #1)

by Dusti Bowling

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

An exceedingly charming character in a setting that sizzles with the unexpected. With these powers combined (and so much more), this tall tale is educational, hilarious and everything in between.

“Aven is a perky, hilarious, and inspiring protagonist whose attitude and humor will linger even after the last page has turned.” —School Library Journal (Starred review)

The paperback edition of the bestselling middle grade novel about a spunky girl born without arms and a boy with Tourette syndrome navigating the challenges of middle school, disability, and friendship—all while solving a mystery in a western theme park.
 
Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she’ll have to answer the question over and over again.
 
Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It’s hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven’s about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

Autumn 2017 Kids’ Indie Next Pick
Junior Library Guild Selection
Library of Congress's 52 Great Reads List 2018

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454932994
Publisher:	Union Square & Co.
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Series:	Life of a Cactus Series , #1
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Dusti Bowling holds a Bachelor of Psychology and a Master of Education, but her true passion is writing. She is the author of the well-reviewed 24 Hours in Nowhere (Sterling); The Day We Met, her self-published YA novel, sold over 20,000 copies. She currently lives in Carefree, AZ, with her husband, three daughters, one bobcat, a pack of coyotes, a couple of chuckwallas, several rattlesnakes, and a few herds of javelina.

Editorial Reviews

Awards include:
Autumn 2017 Indie Next Pick
Junior Library Guild Selection 
Reading the West Award Winner
Library of Congress's 52 Great Reads List 2018
Youth One Book, One Denver 2018
Chicago Public Library “Best of the Best” 2017
Evanston Public Library Best of 2017
Austin Public Library Best Tween Fiction 2017
Multnomah County Library Best Books of 2017
Southwest Books of the Year “Best of the Best” 2017
The Children's Book Review Best Kids Books of 2017 for Tweens and Preteens
Booksource Top 40 Classroom Library Titles of 2017


Praise for the hardcover edition of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
 
"She is a perky, hilarious, and inspiring protagonist whose attitude and humor will linger even after the last page has turned. The tale of Stagecoach Pass is just as compelling as the story of Aven, and the setting, like the many colorful characters who people this novel, is so vivid and quirky that it's practically cinematic. VERDICT Charming and memorable. An excellent choice for middle grade collections and classrooms." —School Library Journal (Starred review)

"Dusti Bowling's story of a regular, hugely likable kid who deals with her unusual challenges with grace and humor is pitch-perfect.” —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Connor's Tourette's support-group meetings and Aven's witty, increasingly honest discussions of the pros and cons of 'lack of armage' give the book excellent educational potential. . . . its portrayal of characters with rarely depicted disabilities is informative, funny, and supportive.” —Kirkus

“[A] sensitive and funny novel . . . an openhearted, empathic book. —Publishers Weekly

“Aven Green didn’t really lose her arms in a wrestling match, but when her parents move the family halfway across the country to manage a run-down theme park, she’d rather tell them tall tales than the truth—she was born without them. It’s not until she meets a new friend with another kind of disability that she learns to accept people’s differences, including her own. Really funny, fun read.” —Slate

"A remarkable, original story with true heart, a fresh voice, and an absolutely unforgettable hero. It's a book sure to give any reader goosebumps, teary eyes, and out-loud laughs. It's a book that doesn't just open your eyes, it opens your heart." —Dan Gemeinhart, author of The Honest Truth

From the Publisher

A move to dusty, distant Arizona forces 13-year-old Aven to leave her familiar life and friends behind. Don’t yawn: Bowling takes this overworked trope and spins it into gold with a skein of terrific twists. For one thing, Aven was born without arms, so the new environment—a decrepit Wild West theme park—poses special challenges. For another, thanks to loving, funny adoptive parents who have raised her to be a “problem-solving ninja” (“I’m so flexible, it would blow your mind,” she boasts), readers may repeatedly forget, despite reminders enough, that Aven is (as she puts it) “unarmed.” Moreover, when the dreary prospect of having to cope with the looks and questions at her new middle school sends her in search of an isolated place to eat her lunch she finds and bonds with Conner, who is struggling with Tourette's syndrome and has not been so lucky with his parents. Not only does she firmly enlist him and another new friend in investigating a mystery about the theme park’s past but, taking Conner’s involuntary vocalizations in stride (literally) Aven drags him (figuratively) into an information-rich Tourette’s support group. Following poignant revelations about Aven’s birth family, the author lets warm but not gooey sentiment wash over the close to a tale that is not about having differences, but accepting them in oneself and others. (Starred review)
 

Booklist

Narrator Karissa Vacker memorably introduces Aven Green, an inspiring 12-year-old who was born without arms. As her adoptive family moves from familiar Kansas to Stagecoach Pass Park in Arizona, Aven is worried about fitting in. When classmate Connor “barks” at her, she thinks he’s mocking her, but she soon learns he has Tourette’s syndrome. Each character is realistically presented—the kids are loyal and funny, particularly Connor, who becomes a close friend to Aven. Scenes of the park and its eccentric employees add atmosphere. Vacker’s tone becomes more intense when Aven and Connor investigate the mystery of the park’s missing owner. Listeners will experience a hopeful story. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Karissa Vacker memorably introduces Aven Green, an inspiring 12-year-old who was born without arms. As her adoptive family moves from familiar Kansas to Stagecoach Pass Park in Arizona, Aven is worried about fitting in. When classmate Connor “barks” at her, she thinks he’s mocking her, but she soon learns he has Tourette’s syndrome. Each character is realistically presented—the kids are loyal and funny, particularly Connor, who becomes a close friend to Aven. Scenes of the park and its eccentric employees add atmosphere. Vacker’s tone becomes more intense when Aven and Connor investigate the mystery of the park’s missing owner. Listeners will experience a hopeful story. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2019 - AudioFile

2017-06-14
Born without arms, white "problem-solving ninja" Aven Green can do almost anything with her feet instead—even solve a mystery. "Now that I'm thirteen years old, I don't need much help with anything. True story." Aven's adoptive parents have always encouraged her independence. She's never felt self-conscious among her friends in Kansas, playing soccer and guitar and mischievously spinning wild yarns about losing her arms. But when her father suddenly gets a job managing Stagecoach Pass, a run-down theme park in Arizona, tales of alligator wrestling can't stop her new classmates' gawking. Making friends with Connor, a self-conscious white boy with Tourette's syndrome, and Zion, a shy, overweight, black boy, allows her to blend in between them. Contrasted with the boys' shyness, Aven's tough love and occasional insensitivity provide a glimpse of how—and why—attitudes toward disability can vary. While investigating the park's suspiciously absent owner, the kids discover clues with eerie ties to Aven. The mystery's twist ending is somewhat fairy-tale-esque, but Connor's Tourette's support-group meetings and Aven's witty, increasingly honest discussions of the pros and cons of "lack of armage" give the book excellent educational potential. Though much of this earnest effort reads like an after-school special, its portrayal of characters with rarely depicted disabilities is informative, funny, and supportive. (Fiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews