The Higher Power of Lucky

After reading some of the articles posted on the Course Documents section of my LME 518 course, I decided to read The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron and illustrated by Matt Phelan just to see what all the fuss is about.

Apparently, there is a controversy because the book received the 2007 Newbery Medal despite its use of the word "scrotum". I was actually kind of surprised that our school library had the book on the shelf. I asked our library media specialist about the book and she said she was not aware of any controversy.

This book is about a girl named Lucky and her dog, HMS Beagle. Lucky's name is a bit of a misnomer, considering her mother died in a freak electrocution accident and her father wants nothing to do with her. After her mother's death, Lucky's father contacts his first wife, Brigitte (who lives in France), to care for Lucky. Brigitte reluctantly comes over to America, but Lucky is always wondering when she's going to return to France since she misses it so much.

Lucky spends her time after school doing odd jobs to pick up extra money in the tiny town of Hard Pan, California. After her chores are complete, she eavesdrops on various Anonymous meetings (Alcoholics Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, etc.) to hear about how the people hit rock bottom then find their Higher Power.

She thinks that if she can find her Higher Power, she can deal with Brigitte returning to France only to leave her in an orphanage. As Lucky seeks out her Higher Power, she comes up with a plan to run away so she will not have to deal with Brigitte's departure. Things don't work out exactly as planned, however, so Lucky eventually returns home to find out Brigitte is not leaving after all. Lucky does discover her higher power, and is able to let go of her mother and embrace her new life.

I thought this book was pretty good, although there was a lot of build-up at the beginning and I felt that the author kind of rushed through the end. As far as the "scrotum" controversy goes, I was not offended by the author's use of the term in any way and I don't really see what all the fuss is about.