Bound To Stay Bound

Bulletin for the Center... - 01/01/2007 It’s been two years since Lucky’s mother died; since then her guardian has been Brigitte, her father’s first wife, who’s a long way from her native France in Lucky’s trailer home in the little desert town of Hard Pan, California (pop. 43). Ten-year-old Lucky is mostly happy in Hard Pan, hanging out with her knot-tying friend Lincoln (whose mother is determined her son will be president) and her dog, HMS Beagle, and eavesdropping on the various twelve-step groups that meet at the Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center; at heart, though, she’s afraid that Brigitte’s stay is really only a temporary one. The book resorts to a threadbare convention, the misunderstanding of chance information, to drive Lucky to her climactic run from home, but the merits here lie not in original plotting but in the quirky and eccentric characters and setting. Hard Pan is vividly conceived, from the monthly deliveries of government surplus commodities (“It must be some kind of secret weapon,” says a local darkly of a delivery of inedible cheese) to the tightly connected knot of colorful inhabitants (Lucky is particularly plagued by five-year-old Miles, who wanders around mooching food and insisting that he be read to from Are You My Mother?). Lucky herself is intense yet vulnerable, understandably longing to be certain that Brigitte considers her worth staying for. Fans of more traditional stories of youngsters finally finding the home they deserve will enjoy this offbeat treatment of the classic theme. DS - Copyright 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

School Library Journal - 12/01/2006 Gr 4-6-When Lucky's mother is electrocuted and dies after a storm, Lucky's absentee father calls his ex-wife, Brigitte, to fly over from France to take care of the child. Two years later, the 10-year-old worries that Brigitte is tired of being her guardian and of their life in Hard Pan (pop. 42) in the middle of the California desert. While Lucky's best friend ties intricate knots and the little boy down the road cries for attention, she tries to get some control over her life by restocking her survival kit backpack and searching for her "Higher Power." This character-driven novel has an unusually complicated backstory, and a fair amount of exposition. Yet, its quirky cast and local color help to balance this fact, and the desert setting is fascinating. Lucky's tendency to jump to conclusions is frustrating, but her struggle to come to terms with her mother's death and with her new life ring true. Phelan's cover and line drawings are simple and evocative, a perfect complement to the text. Fans of novels by Deborah Wiles and Katherine Hannigan will be happy to meet Lucky.-Adrienne Furness, Webster Public Library, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2006 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 12/01/2006 Lucky, age 10, lives in tiny Hard Pan, California (population 43), with her dog and the young French woman who is her guardian. With a personality that may remind some readers of Ramona Quimby, Lucky, who is totally contemporary, teeters between bravado—gathering insect specimens, scaring away snakes from the laundry—and fear that her guardian will leave her to return to France. Looking for solace, Lucky eavesdrops on the various 12-step meetings held in Hard Pan (of which there are plenty), hoping to suss out a “higher power” that will see her through her difficulties. Her best friend, Lincoln, is a taciturn boy with a fixation for tying knots; another acquaintance, Miles, seems a tiresome pest until Lucky discovers a secret about his mother. Patron’s plotting is as tight as her characters are endearing. Lucky is a true heroine, especially because she’s not perfect: she does some cowardly things, but she takes pains to put them to rights. - Copyright 2006 Booklist.