Susan Patron takes one more trip back to Hard Pan, California (Pop. 43), the setting for The Higher Power of Lucky (2006)and Lucky Breaks (2009), both published by Atheneum. Brigitte’s Hard Pan Café will have to close unless Brigitte can come up with a kitchen that isn’t part of the trailer she and Lucky live in. Everyone in town rallies to make a suggestion turn into a workable solution—even the visiting health inspector who cited Brigitte gets caught up in the spirit of it all. Meanwhile, Lucky and her friend Paloma are on the lookout for irony; Lucky gets in a fight at school; and Justine, mom of Lucky’s young friend Miles, has been released from prison and returned to Hard Pan. Justine tells Miles that some of the books he loves to read, about dinosaurs and science, contradict the Bible. This is a struggle for Miles, and also for Lucky and her friend Lincoln in their conversations with him. Patron’s measured, nuanced novel features a cast of distinct individuals who are characterized with great respect. Justine’s love for Miles and his for her are never in doubt, nor is the enduring sense of community in Hard Pan in a story full of big ideas, small moments, warmth, and humor. (Ages 8–11)

Will Lucky solve life’s mysteries before she turns twelve? The adventures that began with the Newbery Award–winner The Higher Power of Lucky come to a grand finale.

For eleven-year old Lucky, the universe is full of questions. Is that mysterious woman at the café Miles’s mom? Does her father not talk to her because he hates her? Will the Health Department ruin everything? Is she really going to go to hell? The answers are, in no particular order, nearly, no, yes, and a big fat “who knows.” But, answers—like every little thing in the whole universe—are constantly evolving and sometimes, the biggest questions have no answer at all. The best Lucky can do is never give up on maybe, maybe understanding things a little better before she turns twelve. It will take a punch in the face (not her face), a near café disaster, a trip to the principal’s office—and both male and female sofas-- but in the end, she’ll see that there are loopholes in life and, thankfully, in county health codes!

The Hard Pan trilogy that began with the Newbery-winning The Higher Power of Lucky concludes with Lucky and all of Hard Pan a little wiser and a lot closer to all out hearts. As always, Lucky is brave and foolish, impulsive and tender, vulnerable and determined. Ultimately, Lucky forges her own path: Lucky for Good.