Lucky Charm (Beacon Street Girls #8) Paperback – March 10, 2009

My 11 year old and her friends love this series. My daughter is reading all the books for a second time!

Everyone in town is excited about the Brookline 300 Festival, and the Beacon Street Girls have made plans to meet up and experience the fun together.On the day of the event, Charlotte decides to bring Marty, the BSG doggy mascot. Katani, who is unexpectedly forced to watch her autistic sister, Kelley, for the day, decides to bring her, too. Avery takes Marty over to the batting cages, and when Katani and Kelley show up, Marty scrambles out of Avery's duffel bag to run over to Kelley. However, a nearby squirrel distracts him, and, before the BSG know it, Marty is gone!Accusations fly as Charlotte blames Avery, while Avery struggles to not break down over the dog's disappearance. The girls set up a website and put up fliers all over town, but turn up nothing but false hopes and wild goose chases. Finally, a lead pops up that might be legitimate, and the girls find themselves having to make a difficult choice.Should they take the opportunity to save the special riding stable that helps people like Kelley, or is Marty too special to be bought for any price?I loved the conflict in this particular BSG book. The author does a great job of showing multiple, legitimate sides to a difficult decision, and even demonstrated how solutions can be reached through everyday means. One does not need to be a fan of the series to appreciate this aspect.Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

Every once in a while, I get a doughnut at this bakery I live near. It has cinnamon and sugar all over it, and at first bite, it tastes really good. After I'm about halfway through it though, I have to stop because the sugar and cinnamon don't taste that great, since the people pile it on. That is pretty much what I think happened with the Beacon Street Girls.These girls! They're so...ugh. I get annoyed if I read about them for too long, let's put it that way. I thought that the books were getting better finally, but Lucky Charm may have been one of the worst I've read so far. It. Was. Bad. Two years ago, I would have been shocked that I wrote that, but now, it's normal.I had to force myself to read this book. I really wanted to throw it across the room. Hard. I was so annoyed. Let me sum up the story: The Beacon Street Girls lose Marty, the girls get all witchy towards each other, they find out a Red Sox rookie has him and he bribes them 10000 bucks to keep him. Katani and Isabel are like 'yep, that sounds good. Isabel has a good reason to say this, Katani has a much worse reason. I probably would have been more on her side if she hadn't acted like a selfish, witchy, brat. Then everything ends up okay because, hey, it's a book and that's what happens.And throughout the book, there are these stupid remarks that made me go "WHAT?!" Like Katani being surprised that Robbie Flores supposedly lives in Rhode Island because he lookes South American. Think about this for a second. o_O (It is called 'immigration')And Katani making a new rule that is important, but honestly sounds straight out of a textbook: 'I have a new amendment to propose...we weill never listen to a stranger who tells us to go someplance without an adult...it's always a bad idea.' Seventh graders don't talk that way. Seventh grade teachers do.I wish that I could say I loved this book, but I can't. I recommend this to little children who aren't critical about what they read

How long has it been since I have had so much fun reading?! My daughter, since age eight, has loved the BSG. She just finished Lucky Charm. She raves, "I've never seen a teen/tween book this fun! I...can't wait to read book 9!!!" Long story short: Aladdin, MAKE MORE BSG BOOKS!!!

The only reason I read this book is because there is one character with autism. Katani, of Beacon Street Girls (Boston) fame has an older sister named Kelley who has autism.Katani is friends with a group of girls in the Boston area. They call themselves the Beacon Street Girls as a nod to their neighborhood. Although I didn't care for most of the characters, save for Katani and her family and the adult characters, I did like the realistic way Kelley was presented. The second youngest of 4 daughters, Kelley has limited social skills; her verbalizations are bizarre to those who don't know her; is highly charged; cannot stand bright lights or loud noises. At the story's opening, the girls go to an outdoor festival. Disaster abounds whn the BSG mascot (an adorable mixed breed dog) runs away. The girls go frantic; send each other text messages and e-mails; blame and self recrimination abounds. Kelley has a believable meltdown as she loves the dog and can't bear noise and confusion.Luckily, a program called hippotherapy (horseback riding treatment) for autistic youth becomes available. Kelley is enrolled. Katani is enrolled against her will as Kelley has to have "a peer to supervise her." Naturally Katani grows to love riding; proves to have talent and enjoys trotting off with her sister.Another disaster - the stable may close due to lack of funding. As you have already guessed by now, the BSG saves the stable; the dog is returned and readers will have to wade through the book to find out how.A bit too girly for me - I could not stand the inane and irksome "OMG" talk among other things; pink and lavender (IKKKK); those silly girls save for Katani and her sisters, but I did like the Boston setting.A good book to pair this one with is  A challenge for Brittany (Choose the right)