The Higher Power of Lucky

By Susan Patron

Age Group: 9-12

My Rating: 4.56 stars out of

Awards and Recognition: 2006 John Newbery Medal, New York Times Best Seller, ALA Notable Children’s Book, Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Choice, JLG Selection, and winner of the FOCAL Award.
 5 stars.

Lucky lives in the tiny town of Hard Pan (Population: 43) with her Guardian Brigitte. Lucky’s mother died before the beginning of this book because she had been out in a rainstorm and touched some power lines that had fallen down, and got electrocuted. Her father didn’t like children, so he called up his first wife, Brigitte, whom he had divorced and who lived in France, to come take care of Lucky.

One day, Lucky sees a suitcase that Brigitte has taken out and sees Brigitte’s passport in it. Lucky hasn’t seen a suitcase in her trailer home for 2 years. This, along with a booklet entitled  “Certified Course in Restaurant Management and Administration with Diploma from the Culinary Institute of France in Paris” that Brigitte is studying convinces her that Brigitte really does not want to be her guardian anymore

What is a classic & Daddy-Long-Legs

Daddy Long Legs
By Jean Webster
A+ for excellence :O)


Classics are good books. I totally agree with Bumbles from Quirky Girls Read (http://quirkygirlsread.wordpress.com/the-classic-bribe/) about the lure of Classic things. However, not a lot of people realize that, and think classics are: old fashioned, boring, and most of all, long. But classics do not have to be three hundred years old for people to say, "Oh, that's a classic." And not all three hundred year old books are called classics. So many people would ask, "What exactly is a classic?"

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
E. L. Konigsburg

Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Publisher)

Claudia and Jamie Kincaid, who live in Connecticut, run away from their home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, they plan to learn everything they can about the museum, and sleep in the historical beds of famous people. They came with twenty-seven dollars, but left with the richness of golden experiences. For throughout their journey, they had encountered a mysterious rich old lady a secret she might know the answer to, and a very peculiar statue, which the secret is about.


This book won the Newbery Medal, and rightly so, because this is certainly a timeless classic, and though that phrase sounds stereotyped, I really mean it.


I am entering this book into a contest hosted by a blog I follow, Quirky Girls Read. Click here for details.
http://quirkygirlsread.wordpress.com/the-classic-bribe/

Girls to the Rescue, Book 1

Edited by Bruce Lansky
Meadowbrook Press
Age Groups: 8-12
My Rating: B+ (4 stars)
Ten short stories about girls who are all creative and resourceful and who all "save the day" in some sense--but not like superheroes, of course. An example is the Japanese girl named Kimi in the story Kimi and the Ogre. Kimi saves the day by getting her foolish brother Taro out of trouble and danger with her quick wits, not strength or superpowers like in comic books.

It was hard to pick since there were so many  good ones, and all the characters were so fully developed, but my favorite short story was