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)