INSPIRATION: INSIGNIFICAN EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS + GIVEAWAY! (Dusti Bowling)

I (Holly Schindler, blog administrator) am so excited to host Dusti Bowling. I've heard such great things about INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS, and I was so interested to read how the author, Dusti Bowling, found her inspiration.

From Dusti:

When I first set out to write INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS, I started with a single scene in my mind: it was of a young girl playing a keyboard with her feet while her friend sat next to her with tears running down his face. And her thinking that she couldn’t reach over and wipe them away because she didn’t have arms. I didn’t know who these kids were. I didn’t know why the boy was crying. But I knew then that I had to write this story. And I ended up writing an entire story around that one scene, which is still there exactly as I had envisioned it, except with the girl playing a guitar instead of keyboard.

                I gave the boy with tears in his eyes Tourette Syndrome because my eleven-year-old daughter had just started her own battle with tics, which would progressively worsen until recently when we were told she likely has Tourette’s. My six year old has now developed a few loud phonic tics of her own.

                I found out while writing my story that there are very few children’s books featuring characters with tic disorders. Considering that around twenty percent of children experience one or more tics during their development, this lack of representation is problematic. I can barely convey my frustration every time someone tells me my children can’t possibly have anything like Tourette’s because they’re not shouting cuss words. Or they tell me my six year old must simply have sinus drainage causing her to hack very loudly to clear her throat. Fifty times a day. For over a year now.

                Living with my daughters’ tic disorders has given me tremendous insight into the character of Connor and what it is like for a child to not be able to control what is going on in his or her body. I took my daughters’ embarrassments, insecurities, sore aching muscles, and tears, and I poured them into Connor. The result is a character who is, yes, heartbreaking at times. But also hopeful, largely due to the support of his understanding and empathetic friend, Aven.

                Whenever anyone asks me what put the idea in my head to write a story about a girl with no arms, and I’m definitely asked that a lot, I always tell them about this video I saw of Barbie Thomas taking care of her baby, driving, folding laundry, and doing all kinds of things. She didn’t have arms. She did everything with her feet. I’d never seen anyone like her before.  I think Barbie and Aven have a lot in common: they’re both bold and fierce and determined. They have great attitudes and they don’t let anything hold them back.

                So, while it’s true that the video of Barbie Thomas led to the inception of Aven herself, really the idea that someone should write a story about a child with a limb difference was planted in my mind back in May of 2008. That was when I received a phone call about my cousin, Kyle, who was on his first tour in Iraq. His vehicle had been hit by an RPG, and was severely injured. He had lost his eye. He was going to lose his arm.

            Over the next couple of weeks after I received that phone call—while we waited every day to hear for news about his condition—all I could think about, of course, was Kyle. Kyle, who I knew would come out of this because he was the strongest, bravest person I knew. Kyle, who would now have a missing eye and a missing arm.

                I fixated on this—that my beloved cousin who had grown up next-door to me was going to be an amputee. I wondered what kind of impact this would have on his life.  Would his girlfriend still want to be with him? What kinds of jobs would he be able to get? Would he be able to care for himself? How would he open a jar? I tried to find as much information as I could during that time, and in my research, I found there were very few books featuring characters with limb differences. When it came to children’s literature, I couldn’t find any at all. But Kyle never did become an amputee because he died two weeks after he was injured.

                After Kyle died, there wasn’t room left in my head for anything but my grief. I forgot about the lack of characters with limb differences until several years later when I saw that video of Barbie Thomas. But this time, I wasn’t struck with overwhelming sadness about what it must be like to live without limbs. I was struck by how capable and strong a person can be, no matter what challenges they may face. I was struck by the resilience of people and their ability to adapt.

                I spent a lot of time reading about life without limbs and watching videos about people who don’t have arms after seeing that. Their abilities amazed me—they were pilots, and artists, and archers, and engineers, and moms, and dads. It seemed nothing was impossible for them. And eventually a character formed in my mind—a character with missing arms. A completely kick-butt, can-do character with a huge heart and funny spirit. A character who is not so much disabled, but so totally abled. A character who doesn’t need to be fixed or cured because she is strong and beautiful and capable just the way she is.

                I’m so excited to introduce everyone to Aven, a character who is utterly unique in children’s literature. I hope that I have given the children out there with limb differences a character with whom they can connect. I hope they see themselves reflected in Aven and that she makes them laugh and makes them cry and makes them love and accept her and themselves. And I hope that any child who reads this story, whether it be a child with a limb difference, a child with Tourette’s, or a child facing any kind of challenge, would finish this book with feelings of empathy and empowerment. Like they can go out and make a real difference in this world. Like they can do anything.

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Dusti is generously giving one signed ARC (US only). Enter using the form below. If you have trouble with the form, please enter by leaving a comment on this post.

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