Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Crazy schemes, sweetness in funny, poignant Depression tale.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
LUCKY STRIKES take place in Depression-era Virginia, where Bertha's Oasis is the last independent Standard Oil station in the region. Then Bertha Hoyle, its feisty, red-headed owner, dies, leaving her three kids -- 14-year-old Amelia, 11-year-old Earle, and 9-year-old Janey -- on their own. Melia, as she's known, has actually been running things for months and is a skilled mechanic. But she also knows that as soon as the authorities find out her mom's gone, the foster care system will take them all away and split them up. That's not the only problem, either: The rich man who owns all the other Standard stations wants to add Bertha's Oasis to his empire and doesn't care what he has to do in the process. Just when things couldn't look worse, a disheveled hobo reeking of alcohol falls off a truck in front of the station. Melia gets an idea and, a few Lucky Strikes later, they have a fateful and highly unlikely deal.
Is It Any Good?
Danger, death, darkness, and drink are no strangers to Louis Bayard's YA debut, but at its heart it's a cheer-worthy, feel-good tale about family, determination, community, and defying stereotypes. Lucky Strikes is set in rural Virginia in 1934, and tobacco (including the brand the title is taken from), liquor, and crude language are plentiful. But 14-year-old Melia -- tough on the outside, often terrified inside, but never one to let it get the better of her because the stakes are too high -- is hard to resist. So is her narrative voice, as here when she's explaining her plan to Hiram:
"'Point is,' I said, 'I ain't old enough to be in charge of them two children. Which is the ... stupidest thing I ever heard, but that's the state of Virginia for you. So what I'm proposing is -- well, it's a business arrangement, that's all. Say some folks from the county come out here and they say, Whoa now, where be the father to these here children? Why, all you got to do is step up and say, That's me. I am the feller in question. Then these selfsame folks, they go away and leave us alone. It's a romp in the clover when you come right down to it.'
"'Oh, sure,' he said."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the view of the Great Depression in Lucky Strikes. How is life different today? How are things the same? Were you surprised at kids being regular smokers in the story?
What's the appeal of historical fiction? What are some of your favorite stories about other eras in books or movies?
If you suddenly had to take care of your family by yourself, how would you cope? Whom could you count on for help? What would be the hardest thing to deal with?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , History
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
- Publication date : July 5, 2016
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 12 - 18
- Number of pages : 320
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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