I liked Lucky Breaks almost as much as its predecessor, The Higher Power of Lucky. It is another gentle, delightful story of Lucky Trimble and the assortment of eccentric "desert rats" that make up the population of her town of Hard Pan, Calif., population 43. The conflict in this second novel is focused on Lucky's own insecurities. When her "meanness glad" acts up a few times with her two closest friends she has a few hard lessons to learn. ( )

[Insert usual why-can't-a-book-be-a-standalone-book-anymore rant here. Also: there will be a third, or at least that's the implication in Patron's acknowledgments at the end. ]

As her eleventh birthday draws near, Lucky finds herself wanting just one thing: a girlfriend. Lincoln's been her best friend for years, but lately Lucky's looking at him more critically: he's always so calm and rational, and so caught up in his knot-tying, and the secret project he's working on for the knotting competition he's entered. What Lucky wants in a friend is someone who knows how to have fun and do things that are maybe a little more dangerous, less predictable. So when Lucky meets Paloma, a girl her own age tagging along on a trip through Hard Pan with her geologist uncle, she knows Paloma is the adventure-friendly best friend she's wanted. As her friendship with Paloma grows, Lucky pushes Lincoln away--even when he's rescued her from an impossible jam of her own making.

Like its predecessor, Lucky Breaks has a quiet grace, a bittersweet story of learning just what loving someone means, whether it's a maternal figure (Brigitte in Higher Power) or a friend, as is the case here. Lucky is struggling to distance herself from Lincoln, and while adults will recognize exactly what she's doing and why, Lucky herself doesn't seem to know.

Unfortunately, while adults will recognize what Lucky is going through and appreciate the humor and bittersweet sadness of her early adolescence, it will be the rare kid who takes to this book. Lucky is so much younger than the older teens her character will speak to that they are unlikely to pick up her story; middle-school students who will relate to Lucky's chronological age will lack the maturity to understand her situation. It's a beautifully written story, but it's unclear who the audience for it will be. ( )

The developing friendship between Lucky and Paloma is quite well done. I forgot how much I had enjoyed the cast of the characters from Hard Pan. Very real emotions play out here. ( )

Sequel to A Higher Power of Lucky, but not as good. Lucky is not a pleasant girl in this book, but she redeems herself in the end. ( )

This novel is less touching than The Higher Power of Lucky and takes a little time to find its uniqueness. About the first half of the story seems fairly repetitive to the first novel. However, the story improves about midway when Paloma comes to sleep over and the girls face a real danger in the desert. The climax and resolution are satisfying and give the novel its own identity in the end. In addition, there is a mystery surrounding Short Sammy that has a sweet and humorous explanation.

The chapters are short enough that a classroom teacher could read one a day to his/her class out loud. Depending on the content of the chapter, the teacher could give students various prompts to respond to in a writing journal regarding the themes or concerns or decisions the characters make at different stages. At one point, for example, Lucky deliberately sabotages Lincoln's project, which she doesn't realize at the time, he is making as a gift for her. The journal writings could become class discussion topics.