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.
This 2006 Newbery winner is filled with superb characterizations, and the talented Cassandra Campbell turns each into a splendid dramatic opportunity. The eccentric heroine is 10-year-old Lucky, who entertains herself by eavesdropping on AA meetings at the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center. Campbell slips into the Southern drawl of one of the "anonymous people" who talk about a "Higher Power" and subtly communicates Lucky's own longing for support. Campbell gives Lucky's beautiful guardian, Brigitte, a French accent and a tone of vagueness that makes Lucky wonder if Brigitte might leave. Campbell enlivens fascinating characters, like Lucky's knot-artist friend, Lincoln, and gives Lucky depth as she reveals her unresolved grief over her mother's death. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
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