 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
The Higher Power of Lucky
- By Susan Patron
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Common Sense Media says
Newbery winner is delicate, humorous, poignant.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
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.
What's the story?
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.
Is it any good?
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. The secondary characters are fascinating, and Lucky herself is intriguing: She always carries a survival kit, her hero is Charles Darwin, she plans to be a scientist, and she collects bugs in the breath mint containers thrown out by 12-step groups. Even the desert setting becomes a character.
All of it is delicately captured in black-and-white illustrations by Matt Phelan that perfectly match the tone of the text. Those who need plot-driven action probably will find this dull. But kids who loved Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo will probably love this one too.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about 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?
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- Teens & kids
AGE
A Disappointment
This Newbery Medal Book is just so slow and dull that you will have no desire to read it. Do not waste your time reading it.
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AGE
I hated it!
The Higher Power of Lucky was a horribly book!It had no point and no story line. There were too many drugs, alchohol, beer, and over all weird people. Not a good influence on little kids. The characters were terrible and there were no point. I got so bored out of the book. I really want to burn the book myself! Don't ever read the book, it is a waste of time and a waste of money.
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AGE
its iffy
in my opinion, i don't really like it!
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AGE
A wonderful Book!
I thought thi book, The Higher Power of Lucky, is a wonderful book! It's Funny, has good characters, and it has a goo theme! It teaches kids a good moral to remeber, and its hilarious! And theres nothing really bad for the use of the inaporpreate word, they just use it to say where a dog was bit.
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AGE
A beautiful story for higher thinkers
My son and I read this together for a book reprot in forth grade. Despite the lack of action, we were both drawn into the plight of a little girl whose life feels so precarious that she turns to the twelve steps to regain a sense of power over her fate. The themes of loss, insecurity, community and identity are simply rendered in a way that my young son had no problem identifying the importance of a higher power for us all.
I thought this book was lovely and profound and have reccomended it to adult readers as well as children. Ignore the fuss over the anatomic language in the first chapter and if your really concerend, read the book first before you give it to your child (a practice I reccommend with any book regardless of the awards it receives.)
Good luck and good reading!
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AGE
I loved this book. I am a 25 year old going to school to be a elementary school teacher and had to read it for class. I think this book was very good. For the use of the the one word that everyone knocks this book about I feel that using the correct term (in which Patron did) is better then using slang for it. For the use of drugs, alcohol, and smoking, it is all done by adults and not a single child does anything bad in the book with these.
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AGE
Very Good, but not Great
Susan Patron's characters are very likable. Children will be able to see some of themselves in Lucky. The story meanders, but not terribly. I just don't get the fuss about the "s-word".
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AGE
Unique at its finest
Great escape to another social culture yet simular dilemmas of today's children.
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| Author: | Susan Patron |
| Illustrator: | Matt Phelan |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Contemporary Fiction |
| Publisher: | Atheneum |
| Publication date: | October 1, 2006 |
| Number of pages: | 133 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.95 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 9 - 11 |
| Read aloud: | 9 |
| Read alone: | 9 |
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