November 2017 - Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
“When I was little, a kid pointed at me on the playground and shouted, ‘Her arms fell off!’ then ran away screaming in terror to his mom, who had to cuddle him on her lap and rub his head for like ten minutes to get him to calm down. I think, up until then, I hadn’t thought about the idea that my arms must have actually fallen off at some point in my life. I had never really thought about not having arms at all.” pg. 1 Aven Green Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
Aven is living a happy life with her parents in Kansas, she has good friends and plays on the soccer team, sure she still occasionally gets asked what happened to her arms, but she’s got some pretty wild stories she enjoys telling people. However, when her parents take a job halfway across the country, managing a rundown theme park in Arizona, Aven knows she will have to start all over again with the questions about her arms.
Aven never let not having arms stop her, she uses her feet to do everything you and I do, eat, play video games, she even plays the guitar, but now that she’s in a new school and everyone is staring at her, she doesn’t feel quite so confident. She locks herself in a bathroom stall to eat her lunch … until she decides that it’s kind of gross to eat in the bathroom. So Aven ends up in the school library during lunchtime, and that’s where she meets Connor, who has Tourette’s syndrome and feels isolated too. The two soon become friends, and on top of trying to solve a mystery, Aven helps Connor to understand that even though they are different, it’s nothing to hide away from. Only it gets a little tough for Aven to take her own advice.
If you recently saw the movie Wonder, based on the book Wonder by RJ Palacio and enjoyed it, you may like Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. Main character Aven is smart and funny, and she deals with some of the same problems that Auggie dealt with in Wonder; but just like Auggie, she comes out stronger with the help of a few good friends!
Aven is living a happy life with her parents in Kansas, she has good friends and plays on the soccer team, sure she still occasionally gets asked what happened to her arms, but she’s got some pretty wild stories she enjoys telling people. However, when her parents take a job halfway across the country, managing a rundown theme park in Arizona, Aven knows she will have to start all over again with the questions about her arms.
Aven never let not having arms stop her, she uses her feet to do everything you and I do, eat, play video games, she even plays the guitar, but now that she’s in a new school and everyone is staring at her, she doesn’t feel quite so confident. She locks herself in a bathroom stall to eat her lunch … until she decides that it’s kind of gross to eat in the bathroom. So Aven ends up in the school library during lunchtime, and that’s where she meets Connor, who has Tourette’s syndrome and feels isolated too. The two soon become friends, and on top of trying to solve a mystery, Aven helps Connor to understand that even though they are different, it’s nothing to hide away from. Only it gets a little tough for Aven to take her own advice.
If you recently saw the movie Wonder, based on the book Wonder by RJ Palacio and enjoyed it, you may like Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling. Main character Aven is smart and funny, and she deals with some of the same problems that Auggie dealt with in Wonder; but just like Auggie, she comes out stronger with the help of a few good friends!