The+Higher+Power+of+Lucky

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

This book features an insecure and highly intelligent 10 year-old girl named Lucky and the story centers around her emotional journey surrounding her mother’s death. The arrival of her father’s first wife in town at his request to take care of her complicates her emotional state.

This book is about a 10 year old girl named Lucky. Her mother died two years previous and her father brings his ex-wife to take care of Lucky. She fears she will be abandoned and runs away. Her stepmother finds her and takes her home and adopts her.

This is a realistic fiction novel written for 9-12 year olds.

Controversy has arisen over the book due to the use of the word "scrotum" on its first page. The problem is that most parents do not get past the first page of the novel due to the mention of the word “scrotum” and therefore miss the bigger picture of a 10 year-old girl struggling to understand the world around her and therefore testing out words that she hears the grownups around her using.

Although the book won a Newberry Award, “the book has already been banned from school libraries in a handful of states in the South, the West and the Northeast, and librarians in other schools have indicated in the online debate that they may well follow suit. Indeed, the topic has dominated the discussion among librarians since the book was shipped to schools” (Bosman, J. 2007).

General public's opinion: Most people thought it was a great story with a strong, smart character, but some people didn’t see why it won the Newberry. Either people loved it or disliked it. The main consensus was that “scrotum” was not a big deal and don’t understand why it has been challenged because of something so trivial (Goodreads.com).

Bosman, J. (2007). With one word, children’s book sets off uproar. //The New York times.// Retrieved from [] on June 17, 2012.

Goodreads. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62151.The_Higher_Power_of_Lucky