*Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Sometimes, we need a reminder that everyone has their differences. Everyone has their challenges. Everyone has overcome obstacles in their lives.
But it’s so important for all of us, young people included, to know that people are more than their differences, more than their challenges, and more than the obstacles they have overcome.
And that’s just one of the reasons I loved reading Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus (Amazon Affiliate Link) by Dusti Bowling.
Not to mention the sweet characters and their abundance of empathy, bravery, and investigative skills.
In Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, Aven Green’s life is uprooted when her parents take a job in Arizona running a dilapidated theme park called Stagecoach Pass. It’s hard enough for any thirteen-year-old to move across the country—but Aven dreads having new people ask (or not ask) the question she’s heard so many times:
What happened to your arms?
Aven was born without arms, and she’s learned how to do everything differently. At her old school, everyone knew her story. She had friends who saw her for more than her lack of arms.
But here, Aven feels peoples’ stares.
As someone born with a limb difference of my own, I resonated with Aven’s frustrations, her worries, and even her sense of humor—I loved the blog post she wrote about the benefits of having no arms.
But what I really loved about this story is that it’s about more than Aven’s armlessness.
It’s about her friendship with a boy named Connor who has a disability of his own, about the mysteries hidden in Stagecoach Pass, and about what it means to face our fears.
This story reminds us how important it is to look beyond our first impressions, to show empathy for our fellow humans, and to engage in the world with bravery and compassion. To be honest and kind.
We are all wonderfully created by the God of the universe.
Like David writes in Psalm 139:13-14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
I’d encourage kids and adults alike to join Aven’s journey as she moves to Arizona, to discover bravery and empathy right alongside her.
The link below is an affiliate link for Amazon, which helps support me in creating more posts like this one!
And never forget … you are wonderfully created.
Love,
Becca
Liked this? Check out my book, Road Trip Rescue!
A girl with a missing dog. A magazine photo that points north. A pink-haired aunt with a love of adventure. Will Kimmy’s rescue mission bring Bo home?
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