The Higher Power of Lucky

The Higher Power of Lucky is written by Susan Patron with illustrations by Matt Phelan. This book was the winner of the Newbery Medal and is an ALA Notable Children’s Book. The target audience of this novel is fourth through sixth grade students (The Higher Power of Lucky).

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

Susan Patron

Summary: Lucky lives in a small town of Hard Pan, California with her guardian Brigitte. She is an adventurous girl who tires to makes the most out of her small town (population of 43) but she is on the search to find her higher power, something that will help her triumph through struggle. The story revolves around the central idea of finding a higher power and her friends that help her along the way.

There are a lot of ideas and themes surrounding The Higher Power of Lucky. It deals with a lot of different ideas that students can relate to such as death, absence of family, and hope. Lucky is constantly struggling with idea of her mother’s death. Students in a classroom might be able to relate to this idea if someone in their family has passed or for students who are unfamiliar with death can get an idea of what some of the struggles and emotions people go through when someone close to them dies. The absence of family is something that students experience unfortunately, and they may be able to connect to this book through that as well. As situation, if they are not family with absence of family, students can understand the ways people feel when they do not have a “normal” family to support them. It also focuses on that families are all different and even if they are not a typical family with a mom and a dad, people can still love each other and lead a satisfying life.

The literary elements really come alive throughout this story as well. The story is told from first person limited. The voice of Lucky through the narration really allows the reader to get inside Lucky’s head and really understand her thoughts and feelings and she is dealing with them. Her voice is also so strong and pronounced that the reader almost feels like they know Lucky or can have a connection with her throughout. The imagery is also very strong in The Higher Power of Lucky. The way that aspects of the setting and characters are so vividly described readers can easily depict an image in their mind that sticks during the entire book.

This book can be used in the classroom in different ways. It is a great book to read as a class read, an independent read, or as a read aloud. This is a prime example of writing a successful narrative. Students can understand the parts of a narrative like using “I” and letting the reader into their inner thoughts and ideas. Students can also see examples of literary elements discussed above. It can also be used to talk about the themes above as well. It is a versatile book that I would consider using in my classroom. I would only use it with older students though because it is a longer novel that would require a more skilled reader and it also deals with topics such as death, which would be more appropriate for an older student to handle/understand.