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 that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends: Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tiers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on 12-step anonymous programs, where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own "higher power" - and quick.
But she hadn't planned on a dust storm, or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.
©2006 Susan Patron; (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Listening Library, an imprint of the Random House Audio Publishing Group
"Patron's plotting is as tight as her characters are endearing." (Booklist)
"Great family read"
My kids and I loved this book. Lucky is heartwarming. Her journey towards finding her higher power introduced a wonderful and ecclectic cast of characters. It shows the power of love and how easy it is to misjudge those around us.
"Wise, Warm & Worthy"
In the warmth of a desert town we journey to find the warmth deep inside Lucky! She defines the meaning of finding ones higher power so beautifully. A fact that escapes most adults! Wouldn't it be great if readers of all ages could discover this journey through the eyes of a child?
"Boring!"
I naturally am drawn to books that have received the Newbery Medal endorsement, which I understood this book to have received, but there was nothing fun, exciting, mysterious, intriguing, or heartwarming about this book. I'm not sure who would like it, but definitely not this retired children's librarian. I want action, emotion, or magic. This had very little of any of that. Maybe a 4th grade girl who hasn't read much of anything else might find some interest here.
More intrigue.
The best part of this was the whole performance of the book's characters.
Yes. The little boy was found and saved. The town rallied around the children. And Lucky found out she had misunderstood what her caregiver intended to do. But it was all so predictable that only a child would not have missed guessing how it would end.