LUCKY
Rachel Vail
HarperTeen
Fiction
ISBN: 9780060890438
240 pages

Eighth-grader Phoebe Avery knows she's lucky. She lives in a luxurious development and has a backyard pool, a housekeeper, a nanny and the freedom to simply throw out a tea kettle or a toaster when it goes on the fritz.

Phoebe also has a great family. Her father is a humble kindergarten teacher, and her beautiful, high-powered mother's financial job funds the family's super-comfortable lifestyle. Her two older sisters, Quinn and Allison, have lives of their own, but they're almost always available when their little sister needs them. Phoebe also has four excellent friends. Sure, her best friend Kirstyn can be bossy and spoiled at times, but they've been close for four years, and they're looking forward to taking high school by storm.

Together, Phoebe and her friends are planning the biggest, best, most glamorous middle school graduation party (lots of) money can buy. So what if the custom invitations, live band, photographer, food and decorations cost a fortune? Phoebe's parents have never talked about money, and Phoebe knows that anything she wants --- including money for a party or that perfect green party dress --- is hers for the asking.

That is, until her mother is abruptly fired following a series of bad investment decisions at her job. Phoebe doesn't really understand what her mom did --- all she knows is that when her mom's credit cards get declined and they have to start laying off household staff, her family might actually have to start thinking, and talking, about money after all. To add to the stresses at home, Phoebe’s mom's check for the party deposit bounces, leaving her with a tough decision: should she air her family's dirty laundry in front of her friends, or should she find some other way to get out of the party --- even if it means ruining her friendship with Kirstyn? Can Phoebe turn her luck around --- and find out what being fortunate really means?

Rachel Vail's new book, LUCKY, is a refreshing antidote to the many recent novels uncritically celebrating the self-indulgent, glamorous and totally over-the-top lifestyles of elite adolescents. In exploring what happens when one of those financially favored teens has to make a change for the poorer, she also touches on how young adults view their own roles within the family and how they rely on their parents for emotional reassurance and ethical guidance (not to mention financial security) even as they work to achieve independence.

LUCKY is the first book in a planned trilogy, each of which will focus on one of the daughters in the Avery family. Since readers just get glimpses of Allison and Quinn's lives, they will likely return enthusiastically to spend more time with the Averys, to learn how this lively, loving family continues to cope with change, and to discover how each of the Avery girls (dubbed "the Valkyries" by their mother) will find her own path.

   --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

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