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ckausch's review against another edition
4.0
I read this back when it was the center of a ruckus because it won the Newbery award this year, and has the word "scrotum" mentioned a few times in it. I guess a bunch of people don't think the word scrotum is appropriate for kids who might read this. I tend to disagree with them. It is a chapter book; School Library Journal puts it in the grades 4 - 6 range. The book centers around Lucky, who is a 10 year old kid, living in a trailer in the middle of the desert. Her mom died and she lives with her "Guardian" who happens to be an ex-wife of her father, from France. Lucky constantly fears that her Guardian will return home to France and leave her in an orphanage. Lucky has spent some time listening in on 12 step meetings and has decided to find her Higher Power. She's definitely a lovable, quirky character, as are the people around her. It's a really great book and I hope the scrotum controversy dies down and the book is just remembered for how great it is.
ccornejo's review against another edition
3.0
Newberry Award Winner. Grades 4-6. Good story about a girl who ends up being raised by her dad's first wife who comes from France. At the end Brigette will adopt Lucky.
nssutton's review against another edition
2.0
was on the newberry shelf near jacob have i loved. just wasn't my sort of tea.
librariandest's review against another edition
4.0
In case you don't know, this is the book that won the Newbery medal and caused all the fuss over the word scrotum. Scrota (I had to look up the right plural) aside, it's a neat little book about a young girl looking for answers to life's tough questions, which is all the more interesting in her case because she has a nontraditional family and an obsession with 12 Step groups. (And Lucky is a really cute name for a kid, though it's kind of always been a dog's name in my book.)
jennchandler's review against another edition
4.0
This was perfectly delightful, lovely, charming, and well-written.
lwhite0889's review against another edition
3.0
Newbery Medal winner - 2007
This is a short, sweet, and atmospheric realistic fiction novel centered around a girl named Lucky. Lucky lives in a tiny town (population 43) in the Mojave desert with her guardian. The book is set two years after the death of Lucky's mother, and is a sort of coming of age story, chronicling her journey to understand the relationship between herself and her guardian, and herself and her grief for her mother.
The story and prose are simple, and the story moves at a sedate but steady pace. Nothing about the book, however, struck me as particularly remarkable. The book doesn't seem to portray the main character's major struggles (grief, emotional abandonment, poverty) in a way that would resonate with children dealing with the same issues, and it certainly didn't treat those issues in a way that particularly resonated with me.
This is a short, sweet, and atmospheric realistic fiction novel centered around a girl named Lucky. Lucky lives in a tiny town (population 43) in the Mojave desert with her guardian. The book is set two years after the death of Lucky's mother, and is a sort of coming of age story, chronicling her journey to understand the relationship between herself and her guardian, and herself and her grief for her mother.
The story and prose are simple, and the story moves at a sedate but steady pace. Nothing about the book, however, struck me as particularly remarkable. The book doesn't seem to portray the main character's major struggles (grief, emotional abandonment, poverty) in a way that would resonate with children dealing with the same issues, and it certainly didn't treat those issues in a way that particularly resonated with me.
misajane79's review against another edition
3.0
That shiny gold medal on the cover makes me expect more from a book. Though I liked the characters, I was never in love. The writing was okay, and parts of it were wonderful. But I was frustrated at the lack of communication and how separate the adults and the children were in this group. There is always a divide between adults and children, but this seemed a bit ridiculous.