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May 06, 2007

Angela Dawn rated it:

This sleeper book is one of the most innovative, honest, and compassionate pieces of children's literature that I have read in a long time.
Through the endearing character of Lucky, the intelligent, insightful, resourceful, and resilient ten-year-old girl who became the foster child of her absentee father's French ex-wife after the death of her mother, we are given a child's eye view of a number of complex social issues in the well-named desert community of Hard Pan, CA., all handled with s More...

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Dec 12, 2007

Susan rated it:

This book may ring a bell because of the laughable controversy stirred up over the use of the word "scrotum" in a blink-and-you'll-miss it reference about a snake biting someone's pet dog. Ironically, the author probably chose the clinical term on purpose to avoid trouble, since the significantly rough-around-the-edges character who tells the story would almost certainly phrase it quite differently had he been a flesh and blood figure, but what can you do? As silly as this is, I feel l More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2007

Brandy rated it:

I’m not sure what can be said about this that hasn’t already been said—it’s a good book, a very pretty book, somewhat atmospheric, in its way. But there’s not a lot of action. It’s another in the Newbery committee’s standards: a book with a strong character who has some internal conflict, but not a whole lot happens externally. In this particular case, I think it worked better than, say, Criss Cross, because THPOL really is about being in a town that’s perfectly happy with the status quo. The bi More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2008

Janssen rated it:

Overall, I just can't understand why this book won the Newbery, unless it was a sad year for children's lit. I just started listening to another Newbery book, A Wrinkle in Time," and in the introduction, the author comments that adults don't understand this book, but children "get it." I feel like this book is the exact opposite; I'm sure some adults felt like it was deep and meaningful and rich, but I suspect many children will find it a bit dull and depressing. Also, I found the More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Sep 29, 2007

Meagan rated it:

I primarily chose to read this book because it has been challenged in school libraries. If it hadn't been, I might never have found it. (Thank you, censorship flunkies!) I thought this book was tender and poignant, and the characters, particularly Lucky, were very sympathetic and three-dimensional. The tale follows Lucky, whose father never wanted children and whose mother died when she was young. She is now cared for by her father's first wife, Brigitte, who happens to be French. Lucky sp More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Yoni rated it:

Everyone's life story has the capacity to guide someone else who is searching for a thread of reason through their own. This is a special book, perfect for children. The plot is fairly simple but is riddled with complex themes--just like childhood. I found it difficult, at first, not to pathologize the behavior of each character. But the story serves as a great reminder that we all have our own struggles and our quirks. Those who listen carefully can find comfort in the experiences of others.

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Feb 06, 2008

Courtney rated it:

Oh, how I love this book. It won the Newberry award last year, despite a small amount of hoopla over the containing of the word 'scrotum' in the first chapter. The context, however, is that ten year old Lucky in her very, very small desert town, listens to twelve-step program meetings through a hole in the fence, and hears the word there when a man tells the story of his last drink, when his dog gets bitten in the scrotum by a rattle snake (yes, I know this is a run on sentence). Being raised by More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

Stefani rated it:

This Newbery Award winner was a really sweet book. Ten year old Lucky struggles to find her place. After listening in on 12-step programs for various addictions, Lucky seeks to find her higher power. Her mother died only a couple years ago, and to her knowledge, she has never met her father. When she fears that guardian Brigette wants to leave her and return to France, Lucky runs away to find her higher power. The town, Hard Pan, has a population of 43, and the characters presented are as colorf More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2007

Medford Children's Library rated it:

Our newest Newbery Award winner introudces us to Lucky, a ten year old girl who is orphaned after the tragic death of her mother. Brigette, her father's exwife, leaves her home in France to take care of her. Lucky becomes anxiety ridden because she believes that this situation is only temporary. She searches for a Higher Power by overhearing AA meetings for strength and answers. She wishes she could have Brigette stay with her, but she knows she misses France. The hot California desert is not th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2008

eva rated it:

I did enjoy this book, though I didn't think it necessarily merited a Newberry. The main character, Lucky, was quirky and intelligent and her adventures were entertaining and ultimately heartwarming. However, I felt like the writing was a bit sloppy, rushed and somewhat lazy in places. Nothing that couldn't be cleaned up with some additional editing, but still, to be bestowed the highest honor in children's literature...the writing should be impeccable. I say this realizing the intent of the pro More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2007

Stacy rated it:

A good story with a vividly rendered background of an impoverished small town in the California desert. This is a the book that uses the term (shock! Horror!) "scrotum," which likely would have escaped my notice, if not for the hullabaloo about it. [parenthetical: with all the vulgarity we are constantly assulted by, a somewhat comic but perfectly respectful anotomical reference seems quite beside the point
] The twelve step references (including the "Higher Power) and allu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2009

Jen rated it:

My elder daughter and I went to a book reading by Susan Patron this evening which inspired me to finally write a review of The Higher Power of Lucky. This was, frankly, one of the most inspiring children's books that I've read in years. How often is it that authors tackle life, death, addiction and meanness without tottering over into Monday Night Movie territory? Patron handles these topics with class and style, or as her character Brigitte might say, "panache."
Lucky is 10 yea More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2009

David rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 04, 2012

Karen rated it:

This year's Newbery winner is also a controversial one, though I'm more than a bit befuddled by all the hoohah. Lucky is a girl who has a part time job cleaning the back patio of the local Windchimes and Found Objects Museum, which doubles as meeting space for the small town of Hard Pan, CA. She listens through a crack in the wall to the stories told by the various recovery groups, and the opening story which includes a dog being bitten by a rattlesnake on the scrotum has resulted in the contro More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Ann rated it:

I liked this book more than I thought that I would. I'm not sure if it was the uninviting cover (the new cover is much nicer) or the generic plot summary, or just that the first few pages didn't grab me when I tried to read it previously, but I was not looking forward to reading this one on my quest to read all of the Newbery books. I was surprised, then, that I ended up really enjoying it.

The characterization is clearly what won this book its medal, with setting an equally well done e More...

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Dec 30, 2011

Barky rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Nov 02, 2011

Debbie rated it:

There's more to this book than the controversial use of the word "scrotum."
[From the first page: "Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster. Her ear near a hole in the paint-chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom. How he quit drinking and found His Higher Power. Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step a More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Melissa rated it:

The Higher Power of Lucky
By: Susan Patron

Genre: Contemporary Realism

Lucky, a strong-willed ten year old, lives in a small town, called Hard Pan. The population in this poor town in California is 43! Lucky is anything but lucky. Her mother passed away from a freak accident and her father wanted nothing to do with her. She is cared for by her father's former French wife. She is in constant search of her "higher power" and secretly eavesdrops on the town's lo More...

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Sep 28, 2011

Autumn rated it:

This story is about a girl named Lucky, age 10 who lives in Hard Pan, California with her gaurdian Brigitte. Brigitte used to live in France with her family before she moved to California. She misses France so much and Lucky fears that Brigitte will leave her one day and she will be an orphan. Hard Pan is a population of 43 and Lucky and Brigitte live in a trailer park in the middle of the desert. Lucky's everyday life is trying to find out about the Higher Power and going on adventures with her More...

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Aug 15, 2011

Kate rated it:

A book talk from grad school:

Lucky Trimble has not experienced a lot of luck in her ten years. She has never met her dad, who left before she was born, and she lost her mom two years ago in a freak accident. Now she lives with her French guardian, Brigitte, in a small town on the edge of the Californian desert, where she has one of the only paying jobs in town, cleaning up the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center after twelve-step meetings. Eavesdropping on the recoveri More...

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Aug 01, 2011

Andrea added it

SPOILERS AHEAD!

After reading the blurb on the back of the book, I thought I would identify more with the main character, Lucky, but - eh - not so much. She's an industrious girl who holds one of three paying jobs in town, and spends quite a bit of her spare time eavesdropping on 12-step meetings and searching for her own higher power (hence the title). I was surprised to find that the story wasn't really about anything that Lucky learns during these eavesdropping sessions as the title implied, More...

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Jun 04, 2011

Linda rated it:

Lucky, ten years old, lives in Hard Pan, CA with her guardian Brigitte (her father’s ex-wife) who has come from France to take care of Lucky. Among Hard Pan’s other 41 inhabitants are two of Lucky’s friends, Lincoln, whose hobby is tying knots, and 5 yr old Miles who is learning to read, and read’s “Are You My Mother?” aloud at every opportunity. Lucky has discovered that she can sit outside the building where “anonymous” meetings are held, and eavesdrop of the speakers, who are searching for More...

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May 10, 2011

Edit rated it:

Reading this book was like eating raw broccoli. You know it's good for you but you'd rather stop eating. After a while, even broccoli starts tasting good. So, I had to force myself through half the book before I started actually enjoying it and I really doubt a child has enough will power to reach that point.

There were so many things I did not like in the beginning. A child name Lucky? A beautiful, young Frech woman taking care of an American kid in a CA trailer? And the kid is the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Krissy rated it:

I don't know what to say about this book. I tried to do a half up, half down thumb, but my teacher wouldn't let me. I gave it a thumbs up, but I had a lot of issues with the book. I thought the story was very well written, and told. I enjoyed reading it, and it truly reminded me of being a child myself. However, I do not think that it is appropriate for the age group that is recommended on the back cover. I think that it could be a great book for children 12 and up, and more so for children who More...

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Apr 15, 2010

Angela rated it:

This sleeper book is one of the most innovative, honest, and compassionate pieces of children's literature that I have read in a long time.
Through the endearing character of Lucky, the intelligent, insightful, resourceful, and resilient ten-year-old girl who became the foster child of her absentee father's French ex-wife after the death of her mother, we are given a child's eye view of a number of complex social issues in the well-named desert community of Hard Pan, CA., all handled with More...

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Apr 07, 2010

Daniel rated it:

I've made it a habit to read the Newbery Medal winning books, and often I read the runners-up as well. What I've found is that lately I have been less than impressed with the winning titles. This particular winner typifies my dislike for the winning choices.

What we have in this book is all the didactic qualities that the ALA seems to like, mixed in with a parent-less youth, who happens to be bright enough to overcome her own situation. It's the same qualities that we found in KIRA More...

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Mar 02, 2010

Mark rated it:

I thought this was a pretty good book. Perhaps it could have done without the few surprising anatomical references, though, but it makes sense for the character, given the story she was told, I suppose.

I guess I liked the style of the book, or something, and the concepts, culture and people in it (the poor culture, the French culture, etc.—all that about government funded stuff was interesting, too). It seemed well-done, and different. The narration was good, too.

Although More...

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Feb 24, 2010

L-Melissa rated it:

The main character of this novel is named Lucky. She is ten years old and lives in Hard Pan, California which only has a population of 43. Her mother died after touching an ungrounded electrical wire and her father decides to remarry a French woman who he leaves Lucky with as her guardian. Lucky also has a dog that she is very close to. She is in constant fear that her guardian will leave her and return to France. Lucky is a very unconventional ten year old girl much like Ramona Quimby, wan More...

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Feb 22, 2010

Lauma rated it:

Audio book, unabridged (3 hours, 38 minutes): Read by Cassandra Campbell who is also an actress, director, and teacher.

The reader did an exceptional job in conveying this story of a 10 year old girl, Lucky, and her quirky thoughts about family, friendships, and life in the desolate desert town in Hard Pan, California. Campbell has a crisp, young and expressive voice very fitting to Lucky's character. She also read the French terms and dialog of Lucky's "guardian" equally More...

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Feb 21, 2010

Samantha rated it:

Patron’s book would be appropriate for a middle school student, but would also be appropriate for older readers who need a lower level text. Overall, I think this chapter book would be more appropriate for girls, but younger boys may have connections with the overall story or the male characters. Lucky is a young girl who is searching for her higher power. She feels she needs her higher power in order to keep her guardian who has come to “temporarily” take care of her after her mother dies. They More...

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