Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling is an emotional book. It’s about how a teen with no arms struggles to fit into her new home, meets new friends, and has a mystery to solve. The book makes you feel tension at every turn of the page and has great detail. In the end of the book, there are discussion questions, great for teachers. This book has so much mystery that by every turn of the page you have another question waiting to be answered. My review for this book is a 5 out of 5 and I will recommend it for many young girls and boys.

“The book is a story about three teens with serious disabilities forming an unlikely friendship as they struggle to cope with everyday life. Aven Green is a thirteen-year-old girl who was born without arms. She loves to make up crazy stories about what happened to her arms.” Aven Green, the main character, also recently moved to a theme park. When readers start this book, they might find it boring at first. However, they will think twice once they dive further into the pages. When I started reading this book I laughed a lot, mostly because Aven was really funny when she made up wild stories about how she lost her arms. When you get further into the book you can see how hard life is for a kid with a disability.

I interviewed two students at WESS and another student from a local elementary school. One of the questions that I asked was, what do you think the book is going to be about? Sofia answered, “I think it is going to be about the challenges she is going to face because she is not fitting in.” Ilyana responded “I think it is going to be about her trying to learn more about herself and the carnival because I feel that the carnival is connected to her somehow.” Sahara commented, “I think that the book is going to be about situations that have to deal with school and it will be a lot about friendship and maybe embarrassment.” My last question was what rating would you give the book 1-5 stars? Sofia responded“ I will probably give it 5 stars because it sounds really good.” Ilyana said “ Although I haven’t read it yet I want to give it a 5 because I know based on the blurb that she is different and this can happen to people in the real world and I think it is going to be a good book” and Sahara answered “ I would give this book a 5 star rating because it gives a good message that people should follow.”. 

The ending is the best part of the book; it has a huge twist that you never see coming. You will have to read it to find out what happens! Do you love mystery, friendship, drama, and much more? Well remember this name, Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus. Happy reading!