The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron and illustrated by Matt Phelan (2007 Newberry Medal Winner)

The last decade of Newberry medal winners has seen several stories about young girls with nontraditional families. (Look at When You Reach Me, and Moon Over Manifest) Fortunately, each of those books brings something different to the mix, so it doesn't matter that they have that in common.

Lucky's mother has died, and since her father can't handle the pressure of raising his daughter alone, he calls his first wife, Brigitte, to come all the way from France to Hard Pan, California (population 43) to take care of Lucky. Lucky always worries that Brigitte will leave her too, but she isn't sure this will happen.

At the age of 10, Lucky has a job cleaning up the town hall after all of the 12-step meetings. She likes to listen to the tales told by the members of the various groups, and Lucky is also in search of her own Higher Power, just like she heats about in the meetings. She has two good friends, a boy named Linclon, who is an avid knot tier who also has aspirations of becoming President, and Miles, a 5-year-old boy who loves the book Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman.

The book has illustrations of various knots that are fun, and the relationship between Lucky and Brigitte is strange and fun. It makes for interesting reading.

Lucky's search for her Higher Power leads her to run away from home, but will that actually take her where she wants to be? Lucky has plenty of problems sorting out her life, and her adventures are worth the read.

So let's make some suggestions about uses in the classroom:

• Talk about what makes a family.
• Talk about what it would be like to live in a town as small as Hard Pan.
• Read Are You My Mother to the class and talk about why Miles likes the book so much. (You can talk about it throughout the whole book so you can see the changing perspective of the book.
• Experiment with tying knots.

There are plenty of other ideas you can explore. Why don't you share some of them below in the comments?

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (2010)

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (2010 Newberry Medal Winner)

Against her better judgement, Abilene Tucker has been sent to the small town of Manifest, Kansas by her father who has found work in a train yard, and he has convinced her that it would be better if, this one time, she didn't travel with him.  It comes as a surprise, and she isn't completely happy about it, but there is one reason for Abilene to be excited about this move-she will have a chance to place her father in all of the stories that she has heard from him about the town of Manifest. In all of her stories, he hasn't had a place.

Manifest is a poor town trying to survive the Great Depression and the loss of the coal mine that was the only business that really kept it afloat.

Abilene is leaving with Shady, a man that works as the interim preacher for a number of years of a Baptist church that burned down many years ago. He runs poorly attended meetings and Abilene wonders about the bottle of booze that sits in what passes for his kitchen.

Abilene finds a box filled with letters from a WWI soldier to a boy named Jinx. Through a strange mishap, Abilene starts working for Miss Sadie, a woman that the people in the town think might be a witch, and a fortune teller. Miss Sadie has the compass that Abilene got from her father.

Miss Sadie tells the story of Jinx and his time in Manifest. How he came to town running from a past that wasn't his fault, and becomes a part of the struggling community. Most of the people of Manifest suffer because the owner of the mine oppresses them and makes them work long hours for little pay with only on store in town owned by the mine.

Will Jinx be able to help the people of Manifest get out from under the thumb of the mine? Will Abilene be able to find where her father fits into the story of Manifest?

This story is great for discussions of history. The story of Jinx happens during the time of World War II. It also faces the issues of racism and bigotry. Abilene's story happens during the Great Depression and during a time when the railroad was an important part of making America happen.

There is also opportunity to talk about the importance of stories, and the stories of family.