This story is about a boy, Nate, and his grandfather that live on Paradise Beach. Nate's best friend, Gen, is a super brainy girl that believes in science and logic. For Nate's 11th birthday, they go miniature golfing and Nate is struck by lightning. Fortunately, he survives! However, he seems different after he was struck and life seems to start working out in his favor. For example, his grandpa's fishing trip business suddenly improves, he doesn't get called on at school to answer questions, and he suddenly is a great baseball player during PE (making an amazing catch and hitting a homerun). He thinks he suddenly has good luck after being struck and anything he touches, he fixes. His friend, Gen, just can't believe it because she believes in odds too much. Since Nate has become a great baseball player, a new group of friends invite him to play baseball everyday. He starts hanging out with these cool kids and forgets his friend Gen and saving of the sea turtles, which the two of them do every year. Towards the end of the story, there is a big hurricane and Gen is trying to save the sea turtle babies. Nate goes out to help her and they are both struck by lightning. Nate is okay because he had a picture frame under his shirt which protected him. However, Gen is not and is wheeled off to the hospital where she is in a coma for days. Eventually, Nate goes to visit Gen in the hospital and when he touches her with his "magic" hand, she wakes up and is going to be okay. ( )

This is a great easy to read book for on level fourth graders. The characters are fun and it deals with issues of bullying, being different, accepting others, friendship and coming together as a community! ( )

This is the tale of Nate Harlow and his unlucky life. Nate lives with his grandfather close to Panama City, Florida. His best friend is Gen, who is obsessed with saving the loggerheads. Nate's luck changes one day, and he soon discovers there is more to life than having good luck. Loved this book and its message! Luck is all in how you look at what you have. ( )

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.


I'm beginning to feel old. Yes, old. And don't laugh at me, okay? Sixteen-year-olds are allowed to feel the effects of growing up just as much as adults - in fact, we go through more changes in a shorter amount of time than you do! So when I read a Middle Grade book, one that is targeted to an age group that I was a part of only four years ago, I get a bit nostalgic. I get nostalgic for the days when I was easily wowed, when plots never felt reused or simplistic or - perish the thought! - boring. Now that I'm older, and have read so many books, I am much more particular about the books that I read. My eyes aren't the fresh eyes of a book-loving seventh grader; they're the critical eyes of a well-read soon-to-be Senior in high school. Yes, I realize I'm exagerrating. But I'm in a reading slump right now, so this is how it feels. In a few weeks I'll be bright-eyes again, but right now the world is a well-trodden place where there is nothing new to bring to the table.

I'm sad Lucky Strike didn't bring me out of my slump, but I just didn't like the characters enough to enjoy it very much. Nate didn't really win me, and I especially didn't care much for the way he treated Gen. He's such a fair-weather friend that as soon as he gets struck by lightning, he hoofs it over to the popular kids' side. Haha, he's a "fair-weather friend" who leaves after he gets "struck by lightning!" I don't know why, but I think that's hilarious. Puns aside, though, Nate was rather an anomaly. Descriptions of Nate and Gen's past together depicted him as this great friend who stuck by Gen through thick and thin. Then we're supposed to believe that he ditches her in a really cruel way (by standing her up, barely apologizing, and then calling her a weirdo in front of all of their classmates). Then at the end - well, I won't spoil it for you, but I bet you can guess. Nate's supposed to be this nice kid who went a little popularity crazy when his luck changed, but I just don't buy it. I wish I did, though.

As for Gen, I didn't really love her either. I mean, I liked her more than Nate and I felt bad for her when he was mistreating her. But I'm so sick of the "socially disconnected" depiction of smart people that I didn't really like her as much as I could have. How come the smart person always has to be the weirdo? As a smart-ish person myself, I know this isn't always the case - when you're born, God doesn't decide between giving you scholastic or social aptitude. Being able to process large numbers in your head (definitely not a gift God has given me) does not require you to spit them out like a calculator in the middle of conversations. Caring about turtle eggs on the beach does not mean you sit on the beach 24/7 and forgo having fun with people your own age (and species).

The plot idea is a fun one, and has a lot of potential. Byron focuses on the reactions to Nate's new luck: I already discussed Nate's less-than-ideal reaction, but the far more interesting aspect of the story is everyone else's reaction. Any time one person seems to have an advantage in this world, we seem to break into two groups: the beggers and the haters. The beggars are the people who swarm Nate, asking him to do things for them or play on their team or come ride in their fishing boat. They want some of Nate's luck to rub off on them, so they scurry to stay on his good side. Everone else despises Nate for being so successful. When he and his grandfather have a run of fabulous luck, the other men of the village become bitter that Nate's grandfather is getting everything. They become bitter, behaving meanly to both Nate and his grandfather, because they are swept away in the feeling that an injustice is being done them.

Honestly, the more I think about it the less I liked Lucky Strike. There's nothing so wrong with it that I would consciously refuse to recommend it, but there's also nothing so positive about it that I would go out of my way to suggest it to others. I may hand it off to my middle grade-aged brother if he seems interested, but I won't push it onto him. And who knows, he may like it much more than I did. ( )

Ask anybody in Paradise Beach who is the unluckiest of them all, they’d unanimously offer the name, Nathaniel Harlow.

Nate is so unlucky when he tries to toast some bread, it doesn’t come out burnt, the toaster shorts out instead. Every box of cracker jacks is consumed with no prize in the bottom.

So who would be the unlucky person to get struck by lightning on his eleventh birthday but Nate. Yep. while playing goofy golf, a bolt came down and blew him clear out of his favorite red sneakers.

Now that’s not the way it was supposed to work. For the first time ever, when Nate made a fervent wish and blew the candles out on his birthday cake, they all went out. Not one flame stayed lit. Shouldn’t that mean his wish had come true? His luck had changed? I wouldn’t call lightning zapping him lucky.

Perhaps his luck did change though. He did survive to see more birthdays. And then more lucky things began to happen to Nate and soon he was the most popular person in Paradise Beach.

But is he truly lucky? His best friend, Genesis Beam, doesn’t think so. She’s been friends with Nate for a long time and being a science geek, she doesn’t believe in luck. She just tells him the odds are in his favor for good things to happen. We shall see.

Nate is a delightful boy. He remained positive even though he was unlucky. He never gave up hoping for better. And his friend Genesis. She’s such a cute thing. Both are the outsiders. The ones the others bully and make fun of.

I was worried about their friendship when Nate became popular. I didn’t want him to lose such a loyal friend or abandon their plight to save the sea turtles. Childhood friends are precious and can last a lifetime.

Lucky Strike is a gem. Friendships are tested and new ones are forged. It’s a story of learning to see what’s in front of you and hold tight to it. Sometimes wanting something more shows you’ve had it all along.

My son read this after I did. He’s a bit older than the recommended reading age for this story but he loved it too. We talked about luck and friends, family and how things change over time. Our reminiscing was another gem I discovered from sharing this book with him and we both feel “Lucky” to have read it. ( )