While one does not have to read Aven Green’s first adventure in Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus to enjoy reading about Aven’s high school trials and triumphs, Bowling does integrate several plot and character elements from the first title into Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus, making it helpful to have some background about Aven and her friends and family.

Aven’s armlessness was caused by a genetic disorder. She was adopted at the age of two by her devoted parents who fell in love with her picture on the internet. They taught Aven from day one how to use her feet as hands, manage her disability, and be self-sufficient. Aven thinks of herself as “abled” and gets angry at Connor in the first novel for saying she cannot do everything a person with arms can do.

Aven first meets Connor and Zion at Desert Ridge, the middle school she attends after her family moves to Arizona and starts working at Stagecoach Pass. Aven was used to her old school, where she knew everyone from kindergarten, had lots of friends, and everyone understood and accepted her difference. At Desert Ridge, she does not fit in.