Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the main character's mother was electrocuted by a downed power line, and her father has abandoned her. There are several discussions of a dog's scrotum (which led to the banning of this book by some school libraries), and references to smoking, drinking, and marijuana.
Families who read this book could discuss Lucky's "meanness gland." Why are even good people sometimes mean? Why does Lucky sometimes like being mean? Do you ever feel this way? What do you do about it?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
This kind of book is catnip to Newbery committees: the lack of plot, the eccentric characters in a small community, the combination of humor and pathos, the sad but plucky protagonist in dire straits, the unhurried and media-free lives the characters lead -- it's all here. And author Susan Patron does a lovely job of it.
As is important in a slice-of-life piece like this, the secondary characters are fascinating. Lucky's friends are: Lincoln, whose obsession is tying intricate knots, and whose mother is so sure he will be president some day that she named him Lincoln Clinton Carter Kennedy; and Miles, who spends his days cruising the neighbors for cookies and begging Lucky to read him his favorite story, Are You My Mother? Neighbors include a man who lives in an old water tank and cooks everything in bacon grease, and the Captain, who has a glass observation dome on his house. And in a town of 43 people there are four different 12-step groups meeting, for alcohol, gambling, smoking, and overeating.
Lucky herself is intriguing. She always carries a survival kit backpack, her hero is Charles Darwin (she named her dog HMS Beagle), she plans to be a scientist, and she collects bugs in the breath mint containers thrown out by the 12-step groups who fascinate Lucky. Even the desert setting becomes a character. And all of it is delicately captured in little black-and-white illustrations by Matt Phelan that perfectly match the tone of the text.
As with any book of this type, it's not for every kid. Those who need plot-driven action will likely find it dull. But kids who loved Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo will probably love this one too.
From The Book
A breeze rattled the found object wind chimes at the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, and the high desert air carried that sound in front of it, all the way across town, down to the three trailers at the very end of Hard Pan. Just the sound of those chimes made Lucky feel cooler. But she still had doubts and anxious questions in all the crevices of her brain, especially about how to find her Higher Power.
If she could only find it, Lucky was pretty sure she'd be able to figure out the difference between the things she could change and the things she couldn't, like in the little prayer of the anonymous people. Because sometimes Lucky wanted to change everything, all the bad things that had happened, and sometimes she wanted everything to stay the same forever.
Plot Summary:
Lucky's life doesn't much match her name. Her mother was killed a couple of years ago when she accidentally touched a downed power line. Her father, who never wanted children, called his previous wife to come from France to take care of Lucky, and then promptly disappeared. So Lucky and her guardian, Brigitte, live in their trailer-home in the tiny, impoverished desert community of Hard Pan, subsisting on government surplus food and the occasional support check her father sends.
Lucky likes to eavesdrop on 12-step meetings, and wonders how she can find her Higher Power. But perhaps she has to hit bottom first, which may happen sooner than she thinks -- it appears that Brigitte may be longing to go back to France, leaving Lucky to enter the state system.
Related Books:
Other Books by Susan Patron:
Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe
More Stories of Abandoned Children:
A Question of Trust by Marion Dane Bauer
Journey by Patricia MacLachlan
Granny the Pag by Nina Bawden
Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
|
 |
|
ViolenceA mother is electrocuted by a downed power line, not described. |
|
|
|
|
LanguageSeveral discussions of the word "scrotum." |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social Behavior |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism |
|
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoReferences to smoking, drinking and drunkenness, marijuana. |
|
|
|
|
