Dusti Bowling’s middle-grade novel, Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus (2019), follows 14-year-old Aven Green as she attempts to “slay the sucktastic beast known as high school” (146). Starting high school is tough for anyone, but for Aven, who was born without arms, it poses even bigger challenges. There are the everyday obstacles that people with arms do not even consider—like the vending machine where the best snacks are out of reach—but even worse, high school means facing lots of new people—which means lots of stares. Making things harder, Aven’s best friend Connor moved to another school. Aven approaches each hurdle with determined positivity and her characteristic quirky humor until a humiliating bullying incident shatters her confidence and trust. Bowling explores issues of bullying, the power of friendship, and the importance of believing in yourself.

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus received a starred review from Kirkus and was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2019. The novel was also a Mighty Girl Best Books of the Year, and a Reading the West Award runner-up. Pagination in this guide refers to the Union Square Kids edition.

Plot Summary

Aven is proudly self-sufficient. She uses her feet as adeptly as people with arms use their hands, and she has new confidence in herself after events in Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. Aven starts high school intending to ignore the stares and jokes that she knows she will be the object of. Aven is sad, however, that Connor, her best friend who has Tourette Syndrome, moved away to rebuild a relationship with his father. Aven’s friend, Zion Hill, however, is by her side. Zion is shy, has a weight problem, and also experiences stares and snide comments. Zion’s brother Lando Hill, in contrast, is a popular football player who loves drawing. Janessa is Lando’s pretty, but petty girlfriend. Aven is surprised when Joshua Baker, a good-looking sophomore football player seems to be interested in her. Zion warns that Joshua is a jerk who bullied Zion mercilessly, but Aven thinks—and hopes—that Joshua has changed.

Outside school, Aven has a busy life. She lives with her adoptive parents at Stagecoach Pass, the western theme park she inherited from her birth grandmother, Josephine. Aven is learning to horseback ride, and plans to jump her horse, Chili, at an upcoming show. Aven plays guitar, has a pet tarantula, and enjoys spending time with the elderly llama, Spaghetti. She is excited to go to Comic Con with Zion, Lando, Connor, and their parents. Aven’s new free-spirited, homeschooled friend, Trilby, introduces Aven to punk music and its nonconformist ideas. Aven blogs about the challenges of her armlessness and her goals for high school. Aven visits her elderly, often-confused friend, Henry, who runs the park’s ice cream shop. Aven discovers that Henry was also an orphan, but sadly, has no known family. Aven wonders about the identity of her own birth father. Aven also visits Josephine, who lives a lonely life in a retirement community until she accepts the friendship of Milford, another retiree. Both Henry and Josephine assure Aven that boys will like her, but Aven thinks that is impossible because she doesn’t have arms.

Aven and Zion visit the mall to find a costume for Comic Con, but Joshua Baker joins them. When Zion leaves briefly, Joshua leans forward to kiss Aven. Aven is surprised but closes her eyes for her first kiss. Joshua pulls back, loudly shouting that “it’s too gross” and joins his laughing friends (92). Aven is mortified.

Aven’s “Great Humiliation” devastates her. She no longer trusts people or believes the best of them. She stays home from school, pretending to be sick. When Zion visits, Aven apologizes for not trusting him, and swears Zion to secrecy. Aven loses her self-confidence and avoids her friends. When her mom insists that she return to school, Aven hides from Joshua. Lando worries about Aven, but she is suspicious about his interest.

Aven likes how powerful she feels in costume at Comic Con. She defends herself fiercely when someone calls her “freaky.” Aven’s uncharacteristic anger worries Connor. Aven is jealous that Connor made a new female friend at school, while Connor thinks Lando is her boyfriend. Aven attends homecoming with Trilby and Zion, where Lando asks her to dance. He says that broke up with Janessa because she is mean. Aven cannot talk to Lando and flees. Later, even though Aven likes Lando, she tells him to leave her alone.

Aven’s parents give her a DNA kit to locate her birth father, but Aven is unsure if she truly wants to find him. Joshua continues to bully Aven and Zion, and one day Lando intervenes. Zion later tells Aven that Lando quit the football team because he argued with Joshua. Zion told Lando about her humiliation and that Aven likes him. Aven is mortified.

Aven feels isolated as Spaghetti dies, and Henry has a stroke and must recover. Lando seeks her out and asks her to make peace with Zion and gives her some of his drawings. They feature Aven as a powerful superhero—the way Aven wants to feel. Lando advises her not to care what others think and be herself. Aven tells the football coach—and her parents—about Joshua’s bullying. Joshua is suspended and removed from the team. Lando returns to the team and thanks Aven for her support.

Aven uses her DNA kit on Henry and locates his older brother, Walter, who visits Henry from Chicago. Henry decides to join Josephine in the retirement community rather than live with Walter’s family because Henry’s friends at Stagecoach Pass are his true family. Aven attempts the horse jump, falls, gets a concussion, and realizes she can survive anything. Aven’s confidence returns. She attends a punk rock concert and vows to no longer let “the Man” keep her down. Lando gives Aven a dramatic, perfect first kiss on Halloween in the crowded school cafeteria. Aven, Trilby, Connor, Amanda, Zion, and Lando decide to start a punk band. Aven once again believes in herself and is thankful for her supportive friends and family.