Susan Patron – författare

Angeline Reddy's diary is the exciting story of growing up in the Wild West, in a California gold mining town. (Runtime 5 hours, 49 min)

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.

the jam in the sandwich Sometimes that''s how PK feels, squeezed in between her supersmart older sister, Megan, and her superadorable younger sister, Rabbit -- especially now, with Megan almost a teenager and becoming impossible, and Rabbit worrying about going to kindergarten. Why can''t people stay the same? But there''s an even bigger change afoot: Mama has decided they should move to a larger apartment. How can they leave behind the big blue chair that''s almost like a member of the family? But maybe, just maybe, in a new home PK can find out what makes her as special as her sisters.

"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 Café 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.