Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.
It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.
But she hadn't planned on a dust storm.
Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
The Touching Story of an Unlucky Childhood with a Happy Ending:
In this touching story, ten-year-old Lucky overcomes hardships and finds her "higher power." Prudes beware: this book uses the word "scrotum" on the first page! If you dare let your child read it, you may consider blacking out the offensive word before surrendering it to innocent youth. The word is revisited in the last chapter. For the rest of us, this book is well-deserving of the Newbery award, as it is cute, poignant, and engaging. Although the reading level is appropriate for a 10-year-old, I... more info
Lucky in life, unlikely in logic:
Lucky is an unusual girl, of a sandy brown color from head to toe, who lives in an impoverished little town (population 43) in California with her French foster mother, Bridgette, her parents having divorced, and her mother having died during an electrical storm. Why the (first) ex-wife of an absent father would agree to care for her ex-husband's second ex-wife's child is never explained (nor probably can it be), but by the time the story begins, Bridgette (basically, her "pre" stepmother) has been... more info
Higher Power of... Wait, Was I Reading Something?:
I read quickly and voraciously. As a children's writer myself, I am very interested in reading, analyzing and enjoying kid lit, especially stuff that's winning honors. This book didn't hold any appeal for me. It was about 150 pages and large print and I put it down before I could finish because I didn't care about the characters. I didn't learn anything about them and I didn't much get invested in their stories. There's not much plot, there's not much emotion, there's simply not much here. I... more info
Not For 9 - 11 Year Olds:
Beware if you're a teacher hoping to use this book as a read-aloud for your 4th or 5th grade class. Although the publisher suggests this as the target age group, the themes and language are more appropriate for junior high. The book also seems intended to be read individually (instead of as a read-aloud), since the small drawings are important to make the text more understandable. Although I'd known that the book was about a young girl who who was caught in a hardscrabble life, in my opinion the material... more info
