Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Higher Power of Lucky


I just finished The Higher Power of Lucky last night. It's the newest Newbery award winner by Susan Patron. I would say it's geared more for 4-6th graders but it would still be fun for anyone to read. It received a lot of attention from libraries and parents all over the country because of an anatomical word the author uses on the first page. It has been banned from several libraries around the country.

Read the book or this article from the New York Times and make your own decision. Share your thoughts here too!

Briefly, the book is about a 10-year-old girl named Lucky who is trying to find her, "Higher Power," after overhearing recovering alcoholics use the phrase at an AA meeting. It's also about how Lucky struggles with her family identity...her mother is dead, she never met her father, and her legal guardian is her father's second French wife who Lucky thinks might leave her. (How's that for a long complicated sentence?)
I enjoyed the book. I liked the way the author described things and I really liked how right on her character's ( Lucky's) voice was. It was charming and believable.

1 comment:

Cassandra said...

I agree with your assessment of the book. I asked two 10-year olds to read it the book after I had finished and both had no problems with the "anatomical word." Since when is basic biology so scary?