I now have several anecdotes to share with you regarding what students
think of "The Higher Power of Lucky." I hope it is OK with the respondents
that I edited their replies to include only what the students have said. I
deleted the opinions/comments of the librarians. One exception--one reply
was about the opinion of a teacher and I included that one.
Please continue to let me know what your students think of Lucky and I
will post another hit at a later date. Thanks for your input!
Nancy Dickinson, Librarian
Hillsboro Elem. School
Hillsboro, TN 37342
dickinson1@k12tn.net
Just letting you know that I had trouble reading Lucky because to me it
just didn't fit the elementary bill. Just didn't hold my attention very
well, so I gave it to one of my 6th grade "readers" for her opinion. She
said it was ok, from the way she said it I knew it was not the best book
she had ever read.
It has not arrived in my library yet. But after buying my own copy and
reading Lucky I gave it to my 11 year old son. He is usually a fan of
fantasy but will read some realistic fiction (he loved Rules, a Newbery
honor book). On the first page he asked me why the book had a bad word in
it. He then asked me what anonymous meant in this context. A little while
later he asked what a higher power was. He quit reading
on chapter two. I begged him to go on because I wanted a kid's reaction.
He tried one more chapter to please me then quit again. To put it simply
my son hated the book and would not finish it.
I have an 8th grade student reading it now. She is doing censorship for
her History Day project and so I gave her the book to use as a "case
study." We did a banned books unit in the Fall and discussed the various
reasons for censoring as well the issues faced by librarians and the
rights of parents. When I gave her the book and she started reading it in
the library she was aghast that scrotum was used in a book that is
marketed towards grades 3-5 and immediately said she did not think it was
appropriate. I don't think the fact that we are a Catholic school has
anything to do with her reaction. She is still reading it; I asked her a
few days ago what her opinion was. We didn't have much time to talk but
she said she thought the book was ok. When I get a chance I intend to ask
her to be more specific and to comment on the language issue.
After having it sit on display for some time (I personally am not crazy
enough about it that what I have to say would actually be a recommendation
at this point -- nothing to do with "the word," but the book itself), a
student with her own copy (and a school librarian mom) -- 4th grade -- who
is reading it and enjoying it suggested it to another 4th grade student,
who has borrowed it. I will keep you posted.
Another anecdote: of 48 5th and 6th grade students in my Mock Newbery
group, who are allowed to choose either an award winner or one of our mock
newbery choices as a gift at the end of the process, only 2 chose Lucky
(on the basis of the dust jacket info); 11 chose Rules (a wonderful book,
in my estimation); almost half eschewed the award winners and chose to
receive their own copies of books they had already read in the program.
I am reading it with my 4th grade daugther. She is enjoying it. If we
were not doing it as a read aloud, I would give it to her to read alone.
Of course, being the daughter of a librarian, she has a broader range of
reading tastes than the normal 4th grader at my school. She asked what
scrotum meant and said, "Oh".
My daughter, age 13, read the book after I did. She liked it but it
wasn't one of her favorites as she tends to like fantasy books.
My son read the book. He is in 5th grade. He is not an avid reader, I
struggle with him and reading…but the day that the Newbery was awarded he
came home from school with an assignment to read a Newbery…so, I ran to
the public library to get the newest Newbery. (Although, I’m in the camp
that thinks Edward Tulane should have won). He totally skipped over the
word scrotum, either because he didn’t know it and didn’t ask me, or
because he knew the word and it didn’t phase him. We are a family who has
always called things what they are, so either scenario is possible. He
liked the book. He asked me a lot of questions about government
subsidized food, living in a trailer park, urns and ashes. He loved the
character of Lincoln. I haven’t had too much discussion about the book
with him, but I think he enjoyed it overall, which surprised me since the
main character is a girl.
I have Lucky in my library. It has been on my new book display since I
received it with my JLG subscription. It has only circulated once - and
that was to a teacher who hated it. I know you don't want to know what we
think the kids will think, but she doesn't think any of them will like it.
I had one 4th grade girl who tried to read it. She is an avid reader and
currently is loving "Ida B." She did not make it all the way through with
Lucky. She wasn't interested in the character. On the other hand, I have
a 5th grade girl who is thoroughly enjoying "Rules" which is an Honor book
this year.
I had a student read it this week (as a favor to me - and she read it
overnight!). She said it was okay - a slow beginning but better at the
end. I asked her if she would recommend it to friends - she said probably
not - it wasn't great and was a little juvenile (she is a 7th grader). I
mentioned that there was a controversy of the word – she thought she knew
what the word meant - but it didn't bother her. She is my only student to
have read it thus far...
I had a 3rd grade boy come up to me with it last week and ask if I thought
he'd like it. I said I wasn't sure, but that it was about a child his age
working out some personal problems. I mentioned the amount of controversy
it had generated among librarians and had him read the 'scrotum'
paragraph. When he finished, I asked him if noticed anything in that
paragraph that he or his parents might find objectionable. He shook his
head no but I'm not certain whether it was because he didn't recognize the
word or did and it doesn't bother him. He came back this week during check
out and I asked him how he was liking it. He said, 'It's okay.' So I'll
check again when he finishes it.
I have had several students reading Lucky. One girl commented that she
liked the book but it just didn't seem outstanding enough to win the top
prize. She thought Edward Tulane was more literary.'
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