"Newbery Award-winning author Susan Patron brings her talents to the beloved Dear America series in this exciting story of a girl growing up in the Wild West, in a California gold mining town.
Growing up in the wild gold-mining town of Bodie, California, in the 1880s, Angeline Reddy has seen it all -- saloons, brawls, and a whole lot of desperation. When her father, Bodie's greatest lawyer, is declared murdered, Angie knows deep in her heart that he isn't dead and decides it is up to her to solve the mystery of what happened to him. But when her mother takes ill and a mysterious ghost appears, putting together the puzzle pieces seems impossible. Not to mention, a gang of vigilantes, the 601, is raging out of control, running folks out of town, and nobody seems safe. Will Angie, with the help of her friends Ellie and Ling Loi, and the mysterious and tragically handsome Antoine, be able to uncover the secret of her father's disappearance?"
""Susan Patron writes honest and true, and this, her final Lucky, feel truest of all. I loved it!"-Kathi Appelt, author of the Newbery Honor Book The Underneath
For eleven-year-old Lucky, the universe is full of questions. Is that mysterious woman at the Café Miles's mom? Does Lucky's father not talk to her because he hates her? Will the health department ruin everything? Is she really going to go to hell? The answers are, in no particular order: nearly, no, yes, and a big fat "who knows?"
But answers are constantly evolving, and sometimes the biggest questions have no answers at all. The best Lucky can do is never give up on maybe understanding things a little better before she turns twelve. It will take a punch in the face (not her face), a near-Café disaster, a trip to the principal's office, and both male and female sofas-but in the end, she'll see that there are loopholes in life and, thankfully, in county health codes!
The Hard Pan trilogy that began with the Newbery Medal-winning The Higher Power of Lucky concludes with Lucky and all of Hard Pan a little wiser and a lot closer to all our hearts."
"From Newbery Award-winning author of The Higher Power of Lucky, comes another gorgeously-written literary middle-grade novel.
Lucky makes a new friend, gets stuck in a well, meets up with a wild burro, discards something she didn’t know was precious, and discovers the secret of the universe in this charming and funny sequel to the Newbery Award-winning The Higher Power of Lucky.
Praise for The Higher Power of Lucky:
“This Newbery winner is filled with superb characterizations,
and the talented Cassandra Campbell turns each into a splendid dramatic
opportunity.”—AudioFile"
"BONUS FEATURE: Exclusive Author Interview
Lucky, age ten, can’t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.
It’s all Brigitte’s fault–for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed
to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she’ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won’t be allowed. She’ll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she’ll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own–and quick.
But she hadn’t planned on a dust storm.
Or needing to lug the world’s heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert."
