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41st out of 91 books
—
1,602 voters
The Higher Power of Lucky (The Hard Pan Trilogy #1)
by
Susan Patron
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 th...more
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 th...more
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published
November 7th 2006
by Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
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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 sensiti...more
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 sensiti...more
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 like I have...more
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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
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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 book to be a b...more
9 likes · like · see review
Sep 29, 2007
Meagan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Elementary and Junior High kids who like realistic stories
Shelves:
kids_materials_class,
banned_books
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 spends m...more
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.
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
Sep 27, 2007
Medford Children's Library
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like strong and interesting characters
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
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
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 allusions to addiction migh...more
] The twelve step references (including the "Higher Power) and allusions to addiction migh...more
Grade/interest level: 3
Reading level: 5.5
Genre: Fiction
Main Characters: Lucky, Bridgett, Lincoln, Miles
Setting: Hard Pan, California
POV: Third Person
Summary: Lucky is a ten year old girl basing future life course on a concept of a higher power that she heard by eavesdropping on an addition anonymous meeting. Lucky loves where she lives and wants to stay there. However, when she hears that her stability may be taken away from her by her guardian, Bridgett, who wants to return to France, she think...more
Reading level: 5.5
Genre: Fiction
Main Characters: Lucky, Bridgett, Lincoln, Miles
Setting: Hard Pan, California
POV: Third Person
Summary: Lucky is a ten year old girl basing future life course on a concept of a higher power that she heard by eavesdropping on an addition anonymous meeting. Lucky loves where she lives and wants to stay there. However, when she hears that her stability may be taken away from her by her guardian, Bridgett, who wants to return to France, she think...more
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 years old and lives...more
Lucky is 10 years old and lives...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Patron, Susan, and Matt Phelan. The Higher Power of Lucky. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Print. 134 p.
Newbery Medal 2007
Ten year old Lucky is a resident of Hard Pan, California, population 43. Residents of the small community include five year old motherless Miles, quietly intelligent Lincoln who is around Lucky's age, the eccentric recovering alcoholic Short Sammy, and HMS Beagle, Lucky's dog. The newest resident is Brigitte, a French woman who has come to California to care...more
Newbery Medal 2007
Ten year old Lucky is a resident of Hard Pan, California, population 43. Residents of the small community include five year old motherless Miles, quietly intelligent Lincoln who is around Lucky's age, the eccentric recovering alcoholic Short Sammy, and HMS Beagle, Lucky's dog. The newest resident is Brigitte, a French woman who has come to California to care...more
THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY
Susan Patton “Seeking Solace in the Desert”
A cute story about an orphaned ten-year-old girl named Lucky. Living in a series of connected trailers on the edge of the Mojave Desert she struggles through a scrappy life with her French guardian--a young woman named Brigitte, who tries to cook gourmet meals with Government Commodities—a monthly food dole. For most of the residents of Dead Pan are very poor as well. With her unusual job as janitress (not to mention, self-ap...more
Susan Patton “Seeking Solace in the Desert”
A cute story about an orphaned ten-year-old girl named Lucky. Living in a series of connected trailers on the edge of the Mojave Desert she struggles through a scrappy life with her French guardian--a young woman named Brigitte, who tries to cook gourmet meals with Government Commodities—a monthly food dole. For most of the residents of Dead Pan are very poor as well. With her unusual job as janitress (not to mention, self-ap...more
Mar 05, 2013
Nathaniel
marked it as to-read
Lucky is a 10 year old girl living in Hard Pan, California. She has three major friend in Hard Pan, HMS beagle(her dog), Lincoln(a boy her same age), and Miles(a five year old neighbor boy). Her mother died in a fire 2 years earlier. Lucky keeps her mother's ashes in a urn. Her father is not present in her life. She lives with her father's ex-wife, Brigitte. Brigitte moved from France to be her guardian at the request of Lucky’s Father. Lucky is searching for her higher power after listening in...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Lucky Trimble lives with her guardian Brigitte in Hard Pan, California (pop. 43). She has a pretty good gig cleaning up after the various Anonymous meetings that meet at the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center (Alcoholics, Gamblers, Smokers, Overeaters). In addition to being one of the only paying jobs in town, it affords her the opportunity to listen to former addicts talking about how they found their Higher Power.
Lucky wants to find her Higher Power, too. She figures that, once...more
Lucky wants to find her Higher Power, too. She figures that, once...more
Genre-Junior Books-Contemporary Realism
This book is about a ten-year-old girl that runs away from her home in California because she is scared her legal guardian, her dad's old wife, will abandon her and go back to France. She is determined to establish her certainty and find the higher power of herself.
A. Area of comment- Theme of poverty
B. The consistent theme of poverty is well displayed throughout the book with an immense amount of detail that reflect the theme. The theme is strong and bala...more
This book is about a ten-year-old girl that runs away from her home in California because she is scared her legal guardian, her dad's old wife, will abandon her and go back to France. She is determined to establish her certainty and find the higher power of herself.
A. Area of comment- Theme of poverty
B. The consistent theme of poverty is well displayed throughout the book with an immense amount of detail that reflect the theme. The theme is strong and bala...more
The Higher Power of Lucky is a story that involves alternative families with elements of community, adventure, survival and coming of age. The fact that Lucky does not have a traditional family and she is being raised by someone who is not a blood relative is relatable to children because every child has knowledge of family relationships. For example, a child who does have a nuclear family will be able to understand how Lucky feels by thinking about how they would feel if they lost a parent whil...more
Patron, S. (2006). The higher power of Lucky. New York, New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
Lucky Trimble is a ten-year-old girl who lives in Hard Pan, California in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Her mother passed away, her father abandoned her, and her father's first wife, Brigitte, has come from France to raise Lucky. Lucky eavesdrops in to the twelve-step meetings that take place in her small town. There, she tries to understand how and where people find their "higher power." Somewh...more
Lucky Trimble is a ten-year-old girl who lives in Hard Pan, California in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Her mother passed away, her father abandoned her, and her father's first wife, Brigitte, has come from France to raise Lucky. Lucky eavesdrops in to the twelve-step meetings that take place in her small town. There, she tries to understand how and where people find their "higher power." Somewh...more
What a lovely little novella! Lucky is a ten-year-old girl living in a southern California town, population 43, whose mother died a couple years back, and her father's previous wife (Brigitte) came all the way from France to be her Guardian. Lucky is worried that Brigitte is getting homesick and will return to France and leave Lucky in an orphanage, so she tries everything she can, including running away, to prevent that from happening. Of course there is a heartwarming ending.
The book, like ma...more
The book, like ma...more
What an amazing book for children!! Lucky, the main character, is a down on her luck 10 year old living in the desert in the middle of nowhere. However, she refuses to look at the negatives of her life however and is very grateful for everything that is good, no matter how small.
Lucky's mother died when she was only eight years old and her father (someone she's never even met) brought his ex-wife from France to watch over the daughter he never wanted. His ex-wife, Bridgette, agrees because she...more
Lucky's mother died when she was only eight years old and her father (someone she's never even met) brought his ex-wife from France to watch over the daughter he never wanted. His ex-wife, Bridgette, agrees because she...more
Review of all three books in the 'Hard Pan Trilogy'
Lucky Trimble lives in Hard Pan, California, in a canned-ham bedroom attached to a trailer. She lives with Brigitte, who is not her mother but her biological father's French ex-wife. Brigitte came to Hard Pan all the way from France because Lucky's father asked her to, after Lucky's mother went out into the desert after a storm and was struck dead by lightening.
So for now Lucky lives with Brigitte, who calls her 'petite puce' which sounds l...more
The Higher Power of Lucky
by Susan Patron
This is a compelling story of how kids cope when bad things happen to them. On a few occasions, I did sense the adult author’s voice rather than Lucky’s. The other two children, both male, are especially well-drawn and credible (despite the author being female). The many sound effects of Miles, his cookie nibbling, and his dilapidated P. D. Eastman book make him very vulnerable and endearing to readers. However, he does seem to grasp his mother's situation...more
by Susan Patron
This is a compelling story of how kids cope when bad things happen to them. On a few occasions, I did sense the adult author’s voice rather than Lucky’s. The other two children, both male, are especially well-drawn and credible (despite the author being female). The many sound effects of Miles, his cookie nibbling, and his dilapidated P. D. Eastman book make him very vulnerable and endearing to readers. However, he does seem to grasp his mother's situation...more
The review on the back says "Patron is a master of light but sure characterization and closely observed detail. A small gem." It's hard to improve on that. This is not a story of high drama or tense action, and it can only slightly be characterized as a 'coming-of-age' tale, because Lucky is still the same young girl at the end of the story that she was at the beginning. What it IS is a tender, slightly sentimental look at a young girl struggling with her very normal desire for a sense of belong...more
Lucky’s mother died when she was eight, her father who never wanted to be a father called his first wife to come take care of her. Brigitte traveled from France and became Lucky’s guardian in the town of Hard Pan population 43. She eavesdrops on 12 step meetings and tries to figure out how to find her Higher Power, but then as her fear that Brigitte will return to France comes to a peak she realizes you have to hit rock bottom first. This story is all about love and family and growing up even if...more
This is one of my favorite Newbery books to date!!!!
Once again, I am in awe of the ability of YA books to reach out and tug at heartstrings while dealing with very complex issues.
I highly recommend this profoundly moving tale of Lucky, a rough and tumble ten year old whose mother died tragically and thus now is in the guardianship of her father's previous wife Brigitte.
Brigitte moves from France to temporarily take care of Lucky until a "real" home can be found.
Living in three tiny connected tra...more
Once again, I am in awe of the ability of YA books to reach out and tug at heartstrings while dealing with very complex issues.
I highly recommend this profoundly moving tale of Lucky, a rough and tumble ten year old whose mother died tragically and thus now is in the guardianship of her father's previous wife Brigitte.
Brigitte moves from France to temporarily take care of Lucky until a "real" home can be found.
Living in three tiny connected tra...more
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 controv...more
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 element. In...more
The characterization is clearly what won this book its medal, with setting an equally well done element. In...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Steps programs are Private | 11 | 43 | May 06, 2013 03:48pm | |
| Great Middle Grad...: The Higher Power of Lucky | 5 | 31 | Oct 31, 2012 01:46pm |
Susan Patron specialized in Children's Services for 35 years at the Los Angeles Public Library before retiring in 2007, the same year her novel The Higher Power of Lucky was awarded the John Newbery Medal. As the library's Juvenile Materials Collection Development Manager, she trained and mentored children's librarians in 72 branches. Patron has served on many book award committees, including the...more
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“Because sometimes Lucky wanted to change everything, all the bad things that had happened, and sometimes she wanted everything to stay the same forever.”
—
7 people liked it
“It made her feel discouraged, like if you took the word apart into two sections of dis and couraged. It was getting harder and harder to stay couraged.”
—
2 people liked it
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