The Higher Power of Lucky (Hard Pan Trilogy)

___________________________________________________Review of all three books in the 'Hard Pan Trilogy'___________________________________________________Lucky lives in Hard Pan, California, in a canned-ham bedroom attached to a trailer. She lives with Brigitte, who is not her mother but her biological father's French ex-wife. Brigitte came to Hard Pan all the way from France because Lucky's father asked her to, after Lucky's mother went out into the desert after a storm and was struck dead by lightening.So for now Lucky lives with Brigitte, who calls her 'petite puce' which sounds lovely in French, but really means 'little flea' in English. Lucky loves Brigitte, but does not dare hope that she will want to be Lucky's mother for good.So in between trying not to hope that Brigitte will become Lucky's mother, and avoiding looking at her real dead mother's ashes in an urn, Lucky decides to find her higher power to get her through. It's what everyone talks about at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held at Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum. Higher power. Short Sammy talks about it a lot, when he recounts the story of the day his beloved dog got bit by a snake and his wife left him, and how he ended up finding his higher power that got him through the worst time in his life.'The Higher Power of Lucky' was Susan Patron's 2007 Newberry award-winning middle-grade book. In 2010 Patron went on to continue Lucky's story with 'Lucky Breaks', and ending with 'Lucky For Good' in 2011, when Lucky is twelve-years-old, rounding the books out to the 'Hard Pan Trilogy'.Susan Patron's series is a complete delight; for both its charismatically flawed heroine and her delightfully quirky hometown of Hard Pan. The first book, 'Higher Power of Lucky' begins when Lucky is ten-years-old, and her mother has just recently passed away, 'replacing' her with her father's ex-wife, the French Brigitte. We are introduced to this very unconventional family unit, which encompasses the wider town of Hard Pan, populated with quirky characters. There's Lucky's best friend, Lincoln, a knot-tying protégé with hopes of becoming the future President of the United States. Litle boy Miles who has a perfectly-timed cookie-retrieval system for visiting all the Hard Pan residents. There's also Short Sammy who lives in a water tank, and mourns the loss of his best dog friend not to mention an archeological team who breeze through Hard Pan to stop at Brigitte's renowned French-bistro café.The books are all about Lucky; a glorious ragamuffin of a girl who is navigating the changing landscape of her life after losing her mother. The books begin when she is ten and follow her to age twelve, but Patron's brilliance lies in not restricting Lucky to her young age - she has moments, particularly in 'Lucky Breaks' and especially 'Lucky For Good' when she's starting to notice the opposite sex, beginning to appreciate (and resent) the flaws in her character and truly come to realize the impacting world beyond Hard Pan. 'Lucky For Good' is a particularly interesting book for Lucky's evolution, because she starts to think on the feelings of resentment and anger she has towards her absent father - who abandoned Lucky and her mother shortly after she was conceived. Patron doesn't inundate the books with all of these life-changing, big marker moments - and it's partly thanks to the third-person narration that as readers we can see Lucky's forming character, but don't get bogged down in the life-changing momentousness of it all. Patron is such a masterful storyteller, particularly in her middle-grade revelations, that she gives the readers just enough incite to have that spark of recognition regarding big changes within Lucky. And some of Patron's emotive descriptions and similes are just so pitch-perfect and brilliant;___________________________________________________Lucky had the same jolting feeling as when you're in a big hurry to pee and you pull down your pants fast and back up to the toilet without looking - but some man or boy before you has forgotten to put the seat down. So your bottom, which is expecting the usual nicely shaped plastic toilet seat, instead lands shocked on the thin rim of the toilet bowl, which is quite a lot colder and lower. Your bottom gets a panic of bad surprise. That was the same thump-on-the-heart shock Lucky got finding out that Miles's mother was in jail. -- 'The Higher Power of Lucky'___________________________________________________These books are very much focused on family, but not the conventional, nuclear one of other middle-grade books. Patron, in her 'Lucky' series really embraces the notion that it takes a village to raise a child, and lacking blood-ties doesn't mean lacking in love. Lucky's interactions with her stepmother, Brigitte, are heartfelt and lovely.I really enjoyed reading Susan Patron's Newberry-winning series, focused on Hard Pan native, little girl Lucky and the cast of quirky characters in her desert hometown.

I've read and reviewed, (and enjoyed), a lot of fantasy and adventure and action and school daze books, but sometimes you want a calm, mellow, well crafted book that's just about life and family and community and growing up. Here, we have an engaging and thoughtful narrator with a realistic feel, a good heart and an inquiring mind, and while the drama in her life may not be monumental in any large sense it is important to her and so it is important to us. Lucky is concerned about stability and getting control of her life. She's sort of an orphan, lives in the middle of nowhere, and is worried that her beloved guardian might leave her to return home to France. Lucky is surrounded by other lost souls of both the kid and adult variety. She is scrappy and decent and alternates between being a bit dreamy and being overly practical. Her voice is fresh and innocent, but not simple. In her way, and not in an unnerving way, she concentrates and gives voice to the kinds of insecurities that sometimes plague the youngsters for whom this book is intended. The graceful way Lucky assures her place seems likely to interest and comfort those readers. So, this book is a nice, well crafted and thoughtful change of pace, and a gently upbeat meditation on the issues of home and place that matter most.

Just read this book today. Definately worth reading as the characters are interesting and the book touches upon a wide variety of societal issues that could create opportunities for discussion for child reader and parent(s). Bit surprised at all the apparent "controversy" described here on Amazon about this book. Wondering what parents of male children told their 3 or 4 year old sons when they asked about their anatomy. Used cutesy words instead of advising them they were male and because of this they had a scrotum and a penis? Weird. Also, the idea nine to tweleve year olds (target audience) need to be shielded from Lucky's possible crush on her friend Lincoln seems odd as does the idea that kids must be shielded from the existence of the very Tweleve Step programs they may need to someday recommend to friends, family members or spouses seems odd to me too. Should one be ashamed grandma (example from book) stopped smoking and never let your kids find out she goes to Twelve Step meetings else they might find out some people actually smoke and need hep to quit? Also weird. Anyway, book and characters are great, book has some plot flaws and some contrived/cliche scenes (the ashes on the desert wind scene for example) and devices but not so much that its not worth the read.

英語はまぁ難しくもなく、易しくもなくというところでしょうか。YL6.5～7くらいかな。最後の方は、自分でもなんでこんなシーンで涙が出るんだろうという、不思議な涙が出てきました。なんてことないシーンで泣けるっては、いい作品の証拠だと私は思ってます。