Aven Green, the remarkable heroine of Dusti Bowling’s Life of a Cactus series, marches to her own beat in this hilarious, upbeat, and unforgettable chapter book.
Third-grader Aven Green is a real professional musician! She just needs to choose what instrument to play. When she decides to try the piano, Aven is disappointed when she can’t master Mozart in one whole day. To pick up Aven’s beat, her parents take her for a four-hour drive to see someone just like her play the guitar. With new inspiration and a special gift from her great-grandma, Aven is ready to take on the school talent show. Will she be ready in time? Or will she blow her big chance?
Dusti Bowling is the bestselling and award-winning author of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, The Canyon's Edge, and Across the Desert, among other books for young readers. Dusti holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology and lives in Arizona with her husband, three daughters, a dozen tarantulas, a gopher snake named Burrito, a king snake name Death Noodle, and a cockatiel named Gandalf the Grey.
Erica Sullivan is a professional actress of both stage and screen and holds her MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Currently a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, she has performed in New York and regionally with such companies as the Lincoln Center, Soho Repertory Theatre, and New Dramatists. She makes her home in Ashland, Oregon, with her family.