Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus is one of the most delightful, inspiring, laugh-out-loud funny, realistic fiction novels for middle grade that I have read in a long time. Author Dusti Bowling has written a novel that teaches inclusion and empathy in such a positive, witty way, that this novel is a must read for any reader who will encounter someone different from themselves! The main character Aven is a person with no arms, and while she handles her armless-ness with humor (her stories of how she became armless are too funny and her blog entries that deal with topics like reasons I’m glad I don’t have arms made me laugh out loud), determination, grit, and very encouraging parents who told her she can do anything everyone else is able to do, just with her feet, she also finds time to encourage the other kids in her new school that have their own limitations. Her example of inclusion and acceptance is just what this world needs and while she thinks she is just an ‘insignificant event’ in the life of the long living saguaro cactus, she proves that she is anything but that.
This novel picks up just as Aven and her adoptive parents more to Arizona to run Stage Coach Pass, which is a rundown Western-themed amusement park filled with an unusual assortment of characters, making the setting for the novel also smile-inducing. It also holds a mystery that Aven is determined to get to the bottom of, changing her life forever. Moving to a new school poses a new problem for Aven though. Up until now she has gone to the same school and everyone just accepts her armlessness and doesn’t stare when she does things like eating with her feet. Now she is the new kid that she fears others will think is a freak. As she avoids the cafeteria, she meets Connor who has Tourette’s, and Levi who is overweight. They form a friendship and start to encourage one another to overcome what they perceive are obstacles in their individual lives. They also work together to solve the mystery that Aven needs a little help with.
Just when I feared that middle grade realistic fiction novels were getting too serious in the name of portraying the world as it is, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus caught me by surprise at how enjoyable life can be, even if you are different or if you have a disability. That is not saying this novel has a rose-colored glasses outlook. Aven does deal with unkindness and even rudeness. However, she is a refreshing example of how to rise above challenges and how to treat others like you want to be treated. One of my favorite scenes is how she wishes for arms so that she could comfort a friend and wipe away a tear. Isn’t that what we should all wish for? This really is a novel that should be included in any middle grade lesson on kindness, empathy, overcoming challenges, and inclusion.
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 1 anatomical term (A hill that a character is painting is said to look like a ‘boob’ and she attempts to make it less ‘boobish’.)
Violence/Gore: Character jokingly wonders if she got an arm transplant from a serial killer if there was the possibility the arms would make her murder people; Character wonders if why some people are never around because they were murdered; Character says if she had arms she would punch another character in the face.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Adoption; Divorce; Disabilities; Death.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None
