The Higher Power of Lucky

Title: The Higher Power of Lucky
Author: Susan Patron
Illustrator: Matt Phelan
Type: Novel
Grade Level: 4-6
Rating: 5 out of 5

Lucky lives in the desert of Hard Pan, California with her French legal guardian, Brigitte, and her faithful dog.  Worried that Brigitte will leave her, Lucky goes out to find her Higher Power and along the way learns about herself and the meaning of family.

The Higher Power of Lucky is a wonderfully enjoyable story and when you break it down by its literary elements you are given an insight on why it is such a great novel (worthy of the Newbery Award!).  Also by looking at literary elements you see and learn so much more than you had originally.  As a reader I became attached to Lucky almost instantly.  She was quirky and very lovable.  It wasn't until I took a deeper look that I realized why I loved her as a character so much.  She is such a dynamic character and you experience her growth throughout the story as you travel along with her (Peterson and Eeds).  You are let into her thought processes and understand the way her brain works.  Most people I know do not think of a desert as a good place to live but Lucky loves it and the readers grows to appreciate it.  The setting basically becomes another character in the book.  It is constantly changing with the weather which brings everything and everyone together.  If the story was anywhere but a desert then it would not work.  The desert brings the story to life and adds to the reader's construction of meaning (Peterson and Eeds).  It was the literary elements like the characters and the place that added to my understanding and appreciation of this great novel.

I think this book would work really well in the classroom.  Students and teachers alike will love it and there is so much to talk about it.  Like I said before the literary elements are very strong in this book and so it would be a great example to teach about literary elements to students.  You could also talk about the controversy surrounding this book and what children think about it.  (In particular, the use of the word "scrotum" on the first page)  You could discuss what a family is which many students can relate to since they do not come from "normal" nuclear families themselves. You could even talk about the differences of living in a desert as opposed to somewhere else (pair it up with another novel so you can compare).