IS GOOD LUCK ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE?

Nate Harlow is about as unlucky as one kid can get. He has never once in his life won a coin toss, the toaster burns his toast every morning, and there's never a prize at the bottom of his Cracker Jacks. His best friend Gen Beam, the smartest person Nate knows, swears there's no such thing as luck at all--with the law of averages it's all bound to even out over time. Until then, though, Nate's stuck being a loser with just a single friend. 

But everything changes on Nate's 11th birthday--the day he's struck by lightning. Not only is he lucky enough to survive, all of a sudden Nate can't lose. Coin tosses, contests, and baseball games--he wins them all! Just when it seems like all his wishes are coming true, things start to get complicated, and all Nate's luck sets off some unintended consequences. Pretty soon Nate starts to wonder--is there such a thing as too much good luck? 

Bobbie Pyron's charming novel Lucky Strike, about family, friends, and fortune, will make a page-turning read for 4th to 6th graders. 

CANDY NECKLACES, KIMCHI, & APPLE PIE LUCK

When Clara Lee wakes up from a dream about her grandfather's death, she's terrified.  That HAS to be a bad dream, right?  Luckily Clara's grandfather is a dream expert and tells her that her dream actually means she will have good luck.  And good luck seems to come her way all day at school.  She gets the best seat on the bus, a surprise candy necklace in her desk, and kimchi at dinner.  What more could she want?  

Clara hopes that her good luck will extend until she competes in the Little Miss Apple Pie contest so that she can represent her town on a parade float in the town's apple celebration.  Will Clara's good luck crown her Little Miss Apple Pie or will Clara earn that honor all on her own by overcoming her fear of public speaking?

Join Clara Lee as she explores what is means to be a fourth-grade Korean American in Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream by Jenny Han.  

For kids in grades 3 and 4.

CAN A PERSON CHANGE THEIR LUCK?

Good luck can be a very elusive thing and something  not often thought about about much unless perhaps you win the lottery or get struck by lightening. For Summer's family the luck is all bad and just when she thinks that things can't get worse, a usually fatal thought, they do. Her parents have to leave for Japan just as the harvest season is starting which provides the family jobs and money pay the mortgage. That bill must be paid so it means that Summer, her younger brother and their grandparents will have to take over and go in the parent's place. 

In Newbery Award-winning author Cynthia Kadohata's book THE THING ABOUT LUCK, the reader shares not only what it is like to be part of a custom harvesting crew but Summer's story of growing up in a very traditional Japanese family and the big risk she takes to change her family's luck. 

For grades 5-8, this book has been nominated for a National Book Award.