Book Review - The Higher Power of Lucky

I finished The Higher Power of Lucky last night and couldn't wait to get on-line to write a review! Here it is:

It's hard to know how to write a review of this book. Let me begin by saying that I thought it was absolutely wonderful! I laughed out loud in several places, and when I tried to read the amusing passages aloud to my husband, we both laughed ourselves nearly to tears.

This is the story of Lucky, a 10 year old girl who lives in a tiny desert town where there are hardly any jobs and everyone is poor. The town's greatest asset is the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor center, wh...more It's hard to know how to write a review of this book. Let me begin by saying that I thought it was absolutely wonderful! I laughed out loud in several places, and when I tried to read the amusing passages aloud to my husband, we both laughed ourselves nearly to tears.

This is the story of Lucky, a 10 year old girl who lives in a tiny desert town where there are hardly any jobs and everyone is poor. The town's greatest asset is the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor center, where there are a number of weekly twelve step meetings. Lucky's job is to pick-up trash around the museum, where she also eavesdrops on the twelve step meetings and becomes fascinated with the search for a Higher Power. Lucky's mother died two years ago, and she is a ward of the state being cared for by her father's French ex-wife, Brigitte. Lucky is convinced that a Higher Power would help assure that she gets to continue life in her small town, and a Higher Power would convince Brigitte to stay with her.

I find Lucky's character to be well-developed. It's hard for an author to really take on the character of a 10 year old, and Patron does this well. The other characters are viewed through Lucky's eyes, and they take on character and meaning as described by Lucky.

The book has been criticized for it's use of the word "scrotum" in the first & last chapters and for the mention of alcoholism, smoking, and drugs. As a book written for the 9-11yr old crowd, I could see how this would offend some and not bother others. I'm among those who would not be bothered. I *do* want to know what my daughter is reading, which is why I'm reading the 4th-8th grade books now (while she's going into 3rd grade), but there wasn't anything explicit in this book. "Scrotum" is in reference to a story Lucky overhears about a dog, and at the end of the book Brigitte gives a very straight-forward answer when Lucky finally asks what a scrotum is. As for the alcohol, smoking, and drugs: these are not glorified or even discussed explicitly. They're discussed in the context of twelve step meetings from the innocent perspective of a ten year old, who doesn't really understand what it's all about anyway. My 8 year old is well aware of alcohol, smoking, and drugs. These are things we've discussed since she was very small, and I'm not concerned about her reading books that mention these things. We live in an urban area where these discussions cannot be avoided. (I should also mention that she knows what a scrotum is, too. It's a very obvious part of basic human anatomy.) Overall, none of these things seem like major themes in the book. They're part of the context of a larger story.