When a half gallon of rum, Johnny Cash, and a dog's scrotum were mentioned on the very first page I knew I had a keeper! This book was a riot! A little girl, Lucky, spends her free time eavesdropping on all of the 12 step anonymous meetings held in the small town of Hard Pan. Lucky earns a little money by cleaning up the front porch of the Museum (that would be the Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center) where all of the groups meet. Lucky's job is to sweep up the cigarette butts from the AA meeting before the Smoker's Anonymous get there. She has to clean up the candy wrappers before the Over Eater's Anonymous group gets there. She has to clean up the beer cans from the Gambler's Anonymus group before the Alcoholics Anonymous group comes back. You get the picture. Lucky wants to find her "Higher Power" like all of the 12 steppers have claimed to have found. The characters are charming and you can just hear and imagine their words and actions.
There was some controversy over Susan Patron's use of the word scrotum. The book was censored in some school libraries and even banned in others. I'm pretty sure the word "scrotum" could be used as a selling point to get middle school age students to read though. I enjoyed The Higher Power of Lucky very much.
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