The Higher Power of Lucky

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky

Author: Susan Patron

Awards: Newbery Medal

Age Range: 8-11 Years old

Summary: Lucky, a 10 year old girl, lived in Hard Pan, California, with her Guardian Brigitte. When Lucky was 8 her mother had died, and her father did not want her. Therefore, Lucky's dad called Brigitte, his ex-wife, and she came to California from France to take care of Lucky. There are not many jobs in Hard Pan, but Lucky got a job cleaning up after different meetings like smokers anonymous. As she would be cleaning, Lucky would like to hear the stories of those in the meeting because she was hoping they would explain how they found their "Higher Power." Lucky hoped to find her Higher Power for she believed if she found it, then Brigette would be her Guardian forever. Lucky worried that Brigette would go back to France because she missed it so much. One day when Lucky was in Brigette's room searching for her keys she noticed her suitcase. When she opened it, Lucky discovered a bunch of papers including Brigette's Passport. This made Lucky think that Brigette was planning to leave her, so she was hurt. She wanted to find a way to convince Brigette to stay. Lucky came up with a plan to run away because she thought this may convince Brigette to stay. However, on the day she planned to run away her neighbor, Miles, run away as well because Lucky was mean to him. Lucky was running away to the dugouts when she accidentally ran into Miles. She decided to help and take care of him. Eventually, their guardians and neighbors found them. In the end, Lucky found out that Brigette was not moving back to France but needed all those papers to officially adopt her and open up a restaurant in Hard Pan.

Evaluation: I enjoyed reading this book. I thought it had a fun plot and a great ending. I think the book would be best to use with fourth, fifth, or sixth graders. Although, I do not think I would use this book in my classroom simply because it talks about those that are alcoholics and smokers. In addition, Lucky planning to run away may stir up some ideas in some students to do the same thing and I would not want to give them those ideas.

Comments

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