diane recomends Three Times Lucky by Shelia Turnage

This book took me a while to get around to reading, but once I started reading it, all of my homework was pushed aside so I could finish it. I read it in two days. So, ok. You could say it was good.

Mo--a soon-to-be sixth grader--has an abnormal upbringing. But, Dale, her best friend is having some trouble himself. They decide to open a detective company, but before long, they get caught up in some mysteries that they weren't expecting to have to solve.

First, I loved the characters. They were so unlike anything that I had ever imagined--while they were still believable. 

"How did I wind up short a mother? Good question. I was born eleven years ago, during one of the meanest hurricanes in history. That night as people slept, they say, the rivers rose like a mutiny and pushed ashore, shouldering houses off foundations, lifting the dead from graves, gulping down lives like fresh-shucked oysters. Some say I was born unlucky that night. Not me. I say I was three times lucky. Lucky once when my Upstream Mother tied me to a makeshift raft and sent me swirling downstream to safety. Lucky twice when the Colonel crashed his car and stumbled to the creek just in time to snatch me from the flood. Lucky three times when Miss Lana took me in like I was her own, and kept me."  (29-30)

Second, I loved the mystery. I am not a huge fan of mysteries, and when it comes to scary, I melt. But this book caught just enough mystery and scariness for me to be captivated, without giving me nightmares.

Lastly, I loved the very realistic situations and the way the characters reacted to them. The characters acted their age the entire book. As an almost-sixth-grader, Mo thinks that she knows everything. Who she wants to marry, and what she wants to do.

"'Hey, Lavender,' I said after a while. 'That new girlfriend of yours--what's her name? Candy? Taffy? You may not know it, but a girl like that will rot your teeth out. How about you marry me?'  ' You? You're a baby.'  He grinned . . . I haven't mentioned it to Lavender yet, but if we adopt children after we're married, I'll want to name them myself. Naming good runs scarce in the Johnston family." (45)

Overall, this book was great! I couldn't come up with anything bad about it--except for the cover maybe--but other than that, it was a great book.

Three Times Lucky

by Shelia Turnage

published by Dial

May 2012

Recommended for 9-13 year olds