The Higher Power of Lucky - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
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: Read 70 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Here's an idea: read beyond the first page February 20, 2007
85 out of 93 found this review helpful

Boy, a lot of people need to quit clutching their pearls in horror and just get over it. To dismiss a book entirely because of a word (and the CORRECT word at that, not a crude euphemism) is ludicrous; one wonders what would have happen if the slang equivalent had been used. There's a lot more to this book than the "s" word. The opening of the book establishes that this story takes place in a plain-spoken town in the real world. Unfortunately, the controversy over the word has overshadowed this bittersweet tale.

There is a silver lining to the controversy: nothing is more tempting than forbidden fruit. Those who may not have considered reading this book will be sure to seek it out, and many will then end up reading a story they enjoy. I'll bet they won't even think much about the "word" once they get into it.

I enjoyed reading about Lucky's world: the hard, dusty life in a remote California town, and the people who populate it. My favorite character was Miles, a five year old boy with a penchant for cookies and a certain picture book that, in the end, proves to be a much more poignant choice of a book than it first appears. But that's the joy of this book: even in such a relatively small book, all the characters, even those who only appear briefly, are multi-layered people with their own history. That's good writing.

Susan Patron (a librarian herself) has written a good book. Just read it and enjoy it. As for the rest, just let it go.

5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful book, not for the faint at heart, every word relevant February 19, 2007
68 out of 69 found this review helpful

I bought this book for my 8 and 11 year old boys. And then I bought more for presents for my friends' kids.

The idea that some librarians are choosing to keep this book off the shelves due to the use of the word "scrotum" right at the beginning of the book is more offensive than the word. Reality check: my boys have lots of words for that part of the anatomy, it's about time they read the proper word used in context of another boy saying it.

Surprisingly, if it is the "word" that stuns people, then they haven't read the book and thought about how stunning it is to consider a child (Lucky) listening in on a variety of 12-step groups. But those two aspects, and all the rest of the "shocking" things that happen in this book, are all absolutely appropriate, and beautifully written, to make this book something special.

I highly recommend "Lucky", and I fully agree with the age suggestion assigned it (9-12). My 8yo thought it was awesome, but then, he is in the 4th grade. My 11yo loved it.

The reality is kids in this age range have all kinds of scary ideas and powerful curiosities. Being able to read about Lucky going through such things gave my kids the opportunity to think about and talk about all kinds of things. As a family, we thought this was an excellent book.

As for the librarians and teachers who think they don't want to have to give a vocabulary lesson on the word scrotum, ask them how many times they have heard boys in the 9-12 age range yell a variety of less savory words for that part of their anatomy. The scientifically correct word is always worth teaching.

Read it for yourself, and see.

5 out of 5 stars

Yes, here is another Newbery medal book to argue for . . . February 2, 2007
51 out of 60 found this review helpful

. . . yet oddly, Amazon reviewers seem to be coy about mentioning the shock factor in Susan Patron's winning book for middle-schoolers. Will readers divide into two groups: those who quit at the "s" word, and the others who continue beyond page 1 to discover the same word in the story's almost-last page? Regarding the first group, is the author saying "well, that's their problem"? The only objectors MAY turn out to be practiced book banners and parents who cannot bring themselves to teach their children biological terms, or school board members who dread to spend time defending freedoms. Does Susan Patron ponder whether someone writing about hope & growing up needs to fall back on the shock factor?

There are other attention-getters such as young friend Lincoln & his passion for the International Guild of Knot-Tyers, revelations of members practicing twelve-step programs, the seldom-used topic of 'cremains.' The Found Object Wind Chime Museum & Visitor Center could also qualify as unusual.

A ten-year-old girl living in Hard Pan CA acquires a live-in guardian, Brigitte, from France. The desert town is a dot on the map with 43 inhabitants. Some attend "anonymous" meetings & Lucky listens to their witnessing surreptitiously. Her goal is to discover a Higher Power and surmount her own life problems; in particular, to prevent her guardian from returning to Paris.

When the 'signs' are right Lucky takes her survival backpack & HMS Beagle, her loyal canine companion, on a carefully planned getaway. This does succeed in drawing attention to her fears & subsequently those needs are properly buttoned up because Lucky, a smart young fan of Charles Darwin, has Patron's young audience latching on to the story like tagalong Miles.

Two mentions regarding a shock element: I had just begun reading "Lucky" before watching the 1987 film "I Heard the Mermaids Singing." It included a too-funny shocker: a Kabayaki eel (?) entree served at a Japanese restaurant. And that brought back a quotation of Frank Lloyd Wright about the Soldiers & Sailors monument in the center of Indianapolis: "I remember that . . . and I presume that was its purpose."

If this Newbery medal winner elicits negative reactions from you, try to remember the word "scrotum" is not a serpent arranged artistically on a dinner plate, or something to detour school board members from getting beyond tests & standards. This is not an example of tabloid mentality invading our brains. Reviewer mcHAIKU finds this a thought-provoking, entertaining story that is cooky-coated to allow childhood realities to filter through. It is as beautifully crafted as the intricate rose knot presented to Lucky by an admiring future president, and as 'swift' as her improvised disposition of her mother's ashes. Lucky is neither 'slow' nor lacking ingenuity.

5 out of 5 stars

Lucky is as lucky does January 22, 2007
48 out of 51 found this review helpful

Lucky has not had it, well, lucky. Her father has abandoned her, her mother died in the desert, and she lives in a tiny dusty town of 43 residents.

Lucky's town, Hard Pan, doesn't have much going for it. There's an improvised beauty salon, a post office, and the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center. Lucky cleans up the Visitor Center, and spends her time eavesdropping on the Anonymous meetings (smokers, drinkers, overeaters, and gamblers). She likes their stories and she's especially inspired by their search for the Higher Power. If only she, Lucky, could find the Higher Power. Then she could stabilize her life.

At the moment, Lucky doesn't feel that stable. She lives with her guardian, Brigitte, a Frenchwoman and Lucky's father's first wife. Brigitte is homesick, still speaks to Lucky with French terms of endearment, and, most importantly, has kept her passport. Lucky knows what that means: Brigitte will leave her in Hard Pan and head back to France.

Brigitte and Lucky live in an improvised home, comprised of three trailers linked together and mounted on concrete blocks. She has one friend in town, a knot-fantatic named Lincoln, and is followed around by a sad 5-year-old boy named Miles with a penchant for cookies and "Are You My Mother?"

Lucky resolves to follow the twelve step program, embarking on the "next step after rock bottom, the getting-control-of-your-life step." She decides to run away during a dust storm, taking a survival pack of her own design with her. Better leave than be left.

"The Higher Power of Lucky" is a charming, powerful tale for the younger Middle Grade reader (7-11). Susan Patron uses the Anonymous metaphor to good effect here. As Lucky herself explains, "It's almost impossible to get control of your life when you're only ten. It's other people, adults, who have control of your life, because they can abandon you." Isn't that the truth?

Lucky is a scrappy young protagonist and a straightforward narrator. She's also an intelligent girl, interested in biology and Charles Darwin, and means well in her search for the truth. The reader roots for her in her attempt to take control of her life, even when she makes mistakes, and is thrilled when she finally finds home.

5 out of 5 stars

Shouldn't be banned February 18, 2007
35 out of 35 found this review helpful

I was surprised to hear that some libraries were banning this delightful book for one word, 'Scrotum'. A word I used to refer to 'that place' from the time my son was two years old without embarrassment or making him feel uncomfortable about his body. Since when was scrotum a dirty word? It reminds me of a time when my son was five and overheard the word 'vagina' while we were in the waiting room of my doctor's office. When he curiously asked me what it meant, I was able to explain it in a way appropriate for his age without a red face or the type of reaction that would make him self-conscious. Perhaps grown-ups need to do a bit more 'growing up', for these words are 'out there' in the real world and banning a book isn't going to take away all exposure to commonly used dialogue about the human anatomy (unless you raise your child in a bubble). This is a good children's book, and obviously I'm not the only one who thinks so or it wouldn't have won an award. As parents, perhaps we need to help children feel good about themselves on the inside, and our reactions to words that describe them on the outside can sometimes make the difference between them feeling comfort, or discomfort about their own bodies. As for my own son, he's a mature, confident twenty-one year old in college who shows no signs of 'mental damage' from hearing the words scrotum, vagina, rectum, (he was present when our dog had to have a 'rectal' thermometer), etc. at a young age. I believe many adults have to get over their own childhood memories of unnatural reactions to medical terms for the anatomy, and that's the real reason they avoid books that might put them in the position of explaining anything 'natural'.
But enough of that. This is a fantastic children's story with great illustrations that I found very enjoyable to read, and I plan on reading it to my future grandchildren.

Chrissy K. McVay
Author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

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