Luck

by Jean Craighead George, Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

After a girl saves his life, Luck, a young sandhill crane, begins the long migration north to Siberia with his parents. Luck and his parents use a special song to find one Crackaarr! While his parents depend on rivers, lakes, and mountains to guide their way, Luck memorizes man-made objects -- windmills, sunglasses, and a baby carriage. Soon thousands of cranes join Luck and his family on their timeless journey. Follow Luck's challenging flight through the voice of master storyteller Jean Craighead George and the art of the critically acclaimed Wendell Minor.

Genres: Picture Books, Birds, Childrens, Science, Nature, Canada, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 2006

About the author

Jean Craighead George wrote over eighty popular books for young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and the Newbery Honor book My Side of the Mountain. Most of her books deal with topics related to the environment and the natural world. While she mostly wrote children's fiction, she also wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods, and an autobiography, Journey Inward.

The mother of three children, (Twig C. George, Craig, and T. Luke George) Jean George was a grandmother who joyfully read to her grandchildren since the time they were born. Over the years Jean George kept one hundred and seventy-three pets, not including dogs and cats, in her home in Chappaqua, New York. "Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behaviour and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories."

Reviews

[J. Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

DS#1 (age 7) rates this as "sideways thumbs, slightly pointing up"

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story that teaches about the amazing spectacle of the Sandhill Crane migration each year as well as tells an engaging story about a hapless, but very lucky bird. The illustrations are gorgeous and I love that I learned something by reading this story, too. We lived near Platte for several years and I never knew that so many of these birds in particular flocked there each Spring, although I knew that our airfield was in a migratory path for birds in general. We really enjoyed reading this story together.

[Ashlea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luck is a picture book that won a Bill Martin award. The book is about a little girl who saves the life of a sandhill crane, by removing a plastic pop ring from its neck. The little girl named the crane Luck. Luck and his parents and thousands of other cranes traveled north for the summer. Luck and the other cranes traveled through Oklahoma, Kansas and stopped in Nebraska to sleep on the Platte River. While traveling Luck looked for landmarks for his way back, but sometimes he memorized things that wouldn’t always be there, like a baby carriage. Luck and his parents flew all the way to Alaska, where Luck found a female crane to be his lifetime mate. Sometimes the pair got lost but eventually the found their way back home, where the little girl lived.

Activity #1- The book tells the way Luck and his parents traveled to Alaska. The books talks a lot about the different highways they followed in Kansas into Nebraska. Giving students either a Kansas map or a U.S map and have them mark the way Luck traveled to Alaska can integrate geography into this activity.

Activity #2- Have students research sandhill cranes and find where they live, where do they migrate to, what do they eat and do they really mate for life. Then have them compare to the book and see if the book is accurate to the way sandhill cranes lives.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story with lovely illustrations. Luck is a young sandhill crane who has had the bad luck to become entangled in a plastic six-pack ring, and the good luck to meet the girl who sets him free. The book describes the northern flight of the sandhill cranes in the spring. Since their flight is over the Midwest, I have not experienced it, but it sounds amazing. Beautiful descriptions with a touch of humor as Luck seems to memorize details of the landscape that will not be very helpful on his return flight. A lovely book for older children.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luck follows the life of a Sandhill crane for over a year. He is rescued from plastic six-pack rings by a Texan girl wearing blue glasses. His migration with his parents from the Texas gulf coast, over the Bering Strait to Siberia, and back to Texas is told in words and gorgeous illustrations.

Tags: Cranes (Birds) -- Birds -- Animal migration -- Birds -- Migration -- Sandhill crane -- -- Meaning comes from Making a Difference -- Human Hands Solve Human Problems

[Laura Weakland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there was some back matter giving more information about Sandhill cranes! Do they always return to the same place? Do they memorize the look of the land to find their way? Do they mate for life? If so, how do they decide which birthplace to return to? Is it like married humans alternating the holidays every other year? Lol

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. We have sand hill cranes in our yard so it felt like a familiar story.

[Joleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. Enjoyed the story and illustrations. Getting to see thousands of Sandhills cranes is a memory I’ll never forget.

[Joanne Pascoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read many of the author's books, and enjoyed them. I didn't realize this was more of a picture book. Borrowed from the library. It's charming, and beautiful.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solomon loves anything with a bird so this rating is skewed. He will probably play "sandhill crane" all night. It's probably three or four stars for a child with less enthusiasm for ornithology. We will follow this book up with some discussion/books about tundra and marshlands. I'll look for some video of cranes too. This book can stimulate all sorts of discussion: environmental issues, ecosystems, lifecycles of birds, even travel. Also, this particular bird traveled from Texas to Siberia. This was of special interest to us as we went to Russia last summer.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this book about the migration of a sandhill crane. This is a great story with beautiful illustrations, that you can also use in so many educational ways: map the migration, discuss dangers of litter to animals, read it before you see sandhill cranes (like when we go to WY.) Good good book in my opinion.

[Amron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can think of no better book for my son, Luck, then a story of a sandhill crane, named Luck, and his journey. Its the BEST!

[Zonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A migratory story of Luck, a sandhill crane, who travels from Texas North all the way to Siberia for the summer, finds a mate, and returns at the end of the summer.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendell Minor painting America and Jean Craighead George writing about nature, a picture book really can't get better than this.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun ornithological title on sandhill cranes. Local info for real-life, regional tie-in: http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3109.htm

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tracks migration of cranes.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet picture book. Can be used as a read aloud and narration for U.S. geography or science. We enjoyed reading about our winter visitors' faraway travels.

[McKayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would be great book to add to a science unit!

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tells the story of Luck, a crane, as he migrates. The essence of this book is much lighter than I would have liked it to be. It throws in some simple information about these birds but very lightly. It's told in the birds perspective which is slightly interesting but not my cup of tea. I liked the way they kept coming back to how the birds memorize the surroundings so they can find there way back home though.