Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus
Cover Page
Name: G.Rao
Title of Book: Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus
Author: Dusti Bowling
Date: January 2026
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Publisher: Union Square Kids and Co.
Copyright Year: 2019
Number of pages: 306
Ages: 8 - 13
Rating: * * * * *
About The Author
Dusti Bowling is an incredible author who lives in Arizona and has a number of exotic pets such as tarantulas, gopher snakes, and a lot more. She has won many awards for this book, it was named the best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, for the year 2019. For other books, she won the Sakura Medal, a Golden Kite Award, and so many more, they wouldn’t fit on this page! Dusti also enjoys adventures and activity. Did you know she has jumped off a mountain? She can also speak German, and also enjoys punk music.
Book Summary
Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus is set in Arizona, where a girl named Aven Green is about to start high school. She is absolutely dreading it, because one of her best friends Connor moved away. She does have another friend though, Zion. There are approximately 3,000 kids in the school, and Aven aims to make friends with 10-15% of them. Oh, I’m forgetting one thing. Aven doesn't have arms, and she is adopted. Even though she is missing a part of her body, it doesn't stop her from doing normal, everyday things, like soccer, or eating her dinner. She even eats with her feet!
Her parents are managers of an amusement park, and one of the employees, Henry, doesn't have a good memory. He is old and one day, something dreadful happens. Will he survive until the end of the book? A number of interesting things happen to Aven, both good and bad. She accidentally dresses up as what her friend said, “a cannibalistic Nazi,” dumps her crush, and goes to her first school dance! Will Aven survive high school, or will she end up defeated by it? Read the book to find out.
My Analysis
Many of Dusti Bowling’s books talk about the hot climate in Arizona. In the 1930s, humanity witnessed one of the greatest series of storms, which turned parts of the Great Plains into a giant wasteland, now called the Dust Bowl , which also affected Arizona. During the storm, the temperatures reached a peak of 119℉, and I thought 92℉ was hot! Just in 1932, 38 tornadoes hit in the southeast of the U.S. Hopefully this sort of an environmental disaster never happens again.
My favorite part of the book is when Aven and her grandmother Josephine were talking to each other in a nursing home. There is a man in the same nursing home who has a crush on Josephine. Aven thinks they would be a good match for each other, but Josephine is convinced that Milford (the man) is a “stalker”. Aven thinks what her grandma said was hilarious, but she can’t help feeling bad for Milford. Will Josephine and Milford get engaged, maybe even married?! Read the book to find out…
Considering the way Aven acts throughout the book, I am pretty sure that she is an optimist. Aven has so many things in her life to be upset about, such as having no arms, or the fact that her parents aren’t blood parents. She usually holds her head high and carries on being happy and carefree. Maybe Dusti was trying to say not to focus on the bad and instead live your best life. I also think the author was trying to teach young children that anything is possible as long as we try hard and practice. Do you think Aven magically learned how to eat with her feet instead of her hands without practicing? Of course she didn’t! My lesson from this book is “ Life is a gift. Enjoy it while you can.”
I must say that the way Aven describes high school makes me feel very nervous. It sounds like elementary school, but with bigger kids and bigger problems. I hope that I will make a lot of friends like Aven does, and be excited for the first day, and not dread it.
My Conclusion
Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus is an incredible book for readers 8-12 year olds. They will learn so much if they read this multi award-winning book. This is actually the second book in the series, but I understood it like it was the first. Alice Cox from Amazon said “My son asked me to buy Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus and he read it very quickly. The story is easy to understand, engaging, and very appropriate for young readers. It’s also good for school reading or classroom projects. He really enjoyed it!” Thank you Alice for sharing your son’s opinion on this amazing book.
