Publisher, Listening Library (January 2007)

Listen to a FREE audio clip.

BONUS FEATURE: EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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.

About the Author: Susan Patron is the author of Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe (an ALA Notable Book, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and a New York Public Library Children's Book List selection) and four picture books. She is currently the Juvenile Materials Collection Development Manager at the Los Angeles Public Library. She lives with her husband Rene, in Los Angeles and in a small cabin in the high desert of the Eastern Sierras.

About the Performer: Cassandra Campbell is an actress, director, and teacher as well as an accomplished voice-over artist whose credits include numerous audiobooks, documentaries, and commercials.