Things are fairly normal in Hard Pan, population forty-three. But to Lucky, fairly normal means fairly boring, and she's restless. Just in the nick of time, she meets a potential new best friend named Paloma, who happens to be visiting Hard Pan with her uncle, a geologist. And before she knows it, Lucky gets stuck in a well, meets up with a wild burro, discards something she didn't know was precious, does something unexpectedly cruel, and learns a couple of the secrets of the universe.

Lucky, age ten, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.

It's all Brigitte's fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she'll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won't be allowed. She'll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she'll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick.

But she hadn't planned on a dust storm.

Or needing to lug the world's heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.

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 cafe 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, just maybe, understanding things a little better before she turns twelve.
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 our hearts.

"Eleven is much more intrepid than only ten."

On the eve of her eleventh birthday, Lucky wants to let loose and become intrepid; she's ready for life to change. But Hard Pan (population 43) drones on like it always has: Lincoln all tied up in knotty matters, Miles newly diagnosed as a genius but as needy as ever, Brigitte running her Cafe and trying to figure out what it means to be American.

Enter Paloma, tagging along on a visit to Hard Pan with a pack of hungry geologists. She's smart and pretty and fun -- definitely best-friend material. But will Lucky be able to cope with tomato worms, Short Sammy's mysterious box, the potential for disaster when Paloma's parents visit Hard Pan, and Lincoln's fame among knot tyers of the world?

Lucky's intrepidness is put to the test in this satisfying sequel to the Newbery Award-winning "The Higher Power of Lucky."