Orwell's Luck [Hardcover]

Richard W. Jennings (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

When a wounded wild rabbit is found in the front yard, he is given a good home and a memorable name by a twelve-year-old with a liking for basketball, the trombone, and the newspaper’s daily horoscope.
But Orwell is no ordinary rabbit. It soon seems that he is attempting to reward his young caretaker by mysteriously sending coded messages in the form of predictions: the final score of the Super Bowl, advance notice of a pop quiz at school, tomorrow’s winning lottery number! Can this little rabbit foretell the future? Can Orwell actually make luck happen?
Here is a magical and heartwarming story about kindness, friendship, and hope in the shadow of fortune’s ever-turning wheel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Quirky details and a warm, precocious 12-year-old narrator add up to an engaging and imaginative novel. While the plot is seemingly straightforward, the unnamed narrator subtlyAoccasionally too subtlyAdivulges clues to the inner workings of her life. The story begins as she finds an injured rabbit in her front yard and works hard to help him recover. She feeds Orwell apples, plays him a concert on her trombone and eventually secures the aid of a kindly vet who restores movement to the rabbit's back legs. Orwell repays her by sending secret messages in the newspaper horoscopes, on the weather page and even in movie credits. Ranging from prophetic to practical to philosophical, the messages eventually teach her that "there is always more than one way of looking at things." Between Orwell's bulletins, the narrator off-handedly addresses less mystical dramas, such as her father's sudden unemployment and her loneliness at a new school. She delivers these details with great delicacy, as though she doesn't want to bother her audience ("My father's job during this troublesome time in our lives consisted primarily of buying lottery tickets"). The audience will have to study her words carefully to get the full picture, but the surface layer of the story is intriguing in and of itself. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-When a seventh-grade girl discovers an injured rabbit resting on the morning newspaper, she decides to nurse it back to health and names it Orwell. The narrator, who remains nameless, is intelligent, inquisitive, observant, perceptive, and blessed with an understanding family. She takes good care of the animal and eventually figures out that he is communicating with her through personalized messages in the daily horoscope section of the newspaper that is delivered to her house. Some of the communications are instructive ("THE MEANING OF LIFE IS TO SEE") and some foretell the future (listing the winning lottery numbers). The narrator soon realizes that Orwell is her treasure and that his wisdom lightens the burden of being 12. She is confronted by real questions-who am I and who will I be, are my parents for real, and will the tousle-haired boy like me-but she faces them with humor and hope and the support of her family. The story line is straightforward and entertaining. Jennings writes with natural grace and has a clear understanding of the concerns of this age group. Each element of the plot flows naturally into the next stage as the narrator learns how to care for those around her and to appreciate the fact that "-nothing really ends, it just keeps on changing." A challenging and thought-provoking novel.
Judith Everitt, Orchard Hill Elementary School, Skillman, NJ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (September 25, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618036288
• ISBN-13: 978-0618036288
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,053,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard W. Jennings has published more than fifty essays, articles, and short stories, including The Tragic Tale of the Dog Who Killed Himself, published by Bantam Books in 1980 to widespread critical acclaim, in addition to his recent titles published with Houghton Mifflin -- Orwell's Luck, The Great Whale of Kansas, My Life of Crime, and Scribble. He is cofounder of a popular Kansas City-area bookstore and former editor of KANSAS CITY MAGAZINE. He has five children, four grandchildren, a dog, a cat, and a parrot and lives in Kansas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What luck to read this book, September 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Orwell's Luck (Hardcover)

This is one of the most charming examples of juvenile literature that I have read in a long time. The young narrator--7th grade--is very real and incredibly charming. Her concerns are are those of my young people--male or female--her age, certainly were some of the issues I pondered at that age--from worries about friends to philosophizing about god to planning a life's career. The writing is filled with wonderful metaphors and similes. Don't let that put you off--they are perfect, both humorous and descriptive. As a school librarian, I am giving this to everyone who is willing to try it, and my enthusiasm is getting many people waiting for their chance.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are the one's who are lucky!, June 9, 2011

By 

Jenny Lee Bates "Jenny B." (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orwell's Luck (Paperback)

Simply, one of those 'perfect' books, and one of the best books I have ever read. Nothing wasted by the author, everything gained by the reader. Thank you Richard Jennings!

Sincerely,
Jenny L. Bates author, "Opening Doors: An equilog of poetry about Donkeys"

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book for children as well as adults, June 4, 2003

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orwell's Luck (Hardcover)

I don't as a general rule go around reading books classified as children's or young adult fiction, but I happened across this book while helping inventory the children's literature section at the library where I work. There was just something about this book that made it jump right out at me, and since I don't believe such things to be coincidental, I checked it out, took it home, and read it in one sitting. Even as a child, I moved quickly beyond children's books to the world of adult fiction, and now I am starting to wonder how many wonderful children's books such as Orwell's Luck have I missed out on enjoying over the years.

The Orwell of this novel is not George Orwell; he is in fact a cute little cottontail rabbit whom the unnamed, twelve-year-old female narrator finds lying atop the morning paper one day. The poor thing has no use of its hind legs, and our narrator naturally takes the rabbit in, sets him up in as comfortable a lifestyle as possible, and tries to nurse him back to health. Despite predictions of doom from her father, Orwell not only survives but begins to thrive, although his legs remain basically useless at first. The little girl is as precocious as she is darling, and her nurturing efforts are rewarded in an extraordinary way. An avid follower of daily horoscopes, she is soon quite surprised to find seemingly personalized messages appearing in her daily newspaper, messages that are coming from none other than Orwell. Orwell predicts the final score of the Super Bowl on one occasion, he gives his human nurse the winning lottery numbers that would have made the family fabulously rich had the girl been able to buy a ticket, and he waxes somewhat philosophical at times. The girl learns a lot from the rabbit about life, herself, and her family. Things are not exactly rosy at home during Orwell's early days as a member of the family. Her father loses his job for one thing, and the girl struggles to find friends at her new school. Through her rabbit, she learns that things happen for reasons, that one must look at things in different ways and from different viewpoints, that waiting can be part of a cure rather than a source of pain. Orwell's Luck is as philosophical and enlightening as anything you will find among books written for a 9 to 12 age level.

This is not some little children's book that can be read in the course of half an hour; it's not overly long, but it is quite substantive. Richard Jennings displays the remarkable ability to write for children without seeming to be writing for children. By this I mean that he does not "write down" to a child's level at all, yet the entire story is easily comprehensible and, for a majority of youngsters, inherently interesting. There is much truth, advice, and knowledge in these pages; as an adult, I feel that I too learned something from the remarkable Orwell, enjoying every minute of this well-told, nothing short of beautiful little book. I know very little about children's literature and even less about children, but I can't see how any child could not fall in love with this wonderful book.