I've taken on the daunting task of reading four fiction books geared for ages 9 and up. I usually read one book for older kids per week, but with the announcement of the Newbery winners last week, as well as so many other great books I want to review in the future that I decided to review these Newbery winners this week.

The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron, and illustrated by Matt Phelan, won the coveted Newbery Medal. Lucky is a ten-year-old girl who is in search of her special power as she experiences life in a tiny desert town. Her concern that her guardian will leave her to go back to her home in France is making her search hard as she tries to find ways to keep Brigitte from leaving. Her mother accidentally stepped on an exposed electrical line and suddenly died and her absentee father sent his first wife to help with Lucky until foster care could be arranged.

Patron is a gifted writer who writes with deep, underlying meaning but incorporates a wit and humor that kids and adults can relate to and enjoy. I just don't understand why a little bathroom humor has to be unnecessarily included and it's right at the beginning of the book. The book didn't need it, it added nothing to the storyline and it's inappropriate for children.

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Penny from Heaven, by Jennifer L. Holm, is this year's Newbery Honor book and I LOVED this book! It's 1953 and 11-year-old Penny is given a lucky bean that her uncle just found. Your father had this in his pocket. Her Italian-born father passed away soon after she was born and she places this valuable article of her father's belongings into her pocket and it's going to be lucky, she just knows it.

Penny is really looking forward to summer, swimming, the New Jersey beach, Brooklyn Dodger games and enjoying her cousins. But her mother won't let her swim in the public pool because of the polio scare that's crossing the country and there seems to be something unusual about how her father died.

It doesn't take you long to become completely wrapped up in Lucky's extended family, and the author has lifted experiences similar to her own family history. Additionally, you learn so much interesting history tied into the story. For instance, you learn how Italians that didn't have citizenship were highly restricted and some were even sent to interment camps.

The author uses Lucky's voice to tell her story, making it insightful and endearing. Even when near tragedy strikes, and a surprise dealing with the death of her father, she finds life, humor and above all, love of family helping her to persevere and survive. There's much more to learn in the back of the book with the author's notes and photo's of her family (I found myself especially drawn to this because of all the memories it dug up from my past growing up during the late 50's). Here's a book for all ages to enjoy, learn and relish.

Here's another historical fiction. Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson, is another Newbery Honor book and the historical value to be learned about Montana and the country during 1918 is found throughout this interesting and heartfelt story. Sixteen-year-old Hattie has just left her home in Iowa to homestead in the wilderness of Eastern Montana. She's inherited a claim from an uncle she's never met and now he's died. Her life in Iowa is miserable because she's been passed around from relative to relative since both of her parents died, so she jumps at this opportunity to get away and own something that actually belongs to herself. The true friends she meets and makes, the perseverance, grit and dedication she must have and the tremendous challenges — and hardships — she faces will enlighten any age who reads this engaging book. There's even an underlying story going on throughout the book that concerns WWI.

Rules, by first time author and Newbery Honor winner, Cynthia Lord, is my pick for the Newbery winners that teach you the most about life, friends and disabilities. Twelve-year-old Catherine has a younger brother, David, who has autism and she's writing rules to help him understand life. These rules are amazing because they enlighten the reader to the truths of dealing with people.

Catherine's rules bring to light the way people act or react to David, and will propel you to desire to be better, appreciate everything and everyone around you.

When a classmate, Ryan, continually pokes fun of David at school and home, David doesn't realize that it's demeaning and laughs along with Ryan. Catherine adds another rule: Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt you. But this is only half of the story. She meets a 14-year-old at David's doctor's appointment whom she befriends, and he's in a wheelchair.