California mining towns: Students can compare life in Lucky’s time in a deserted mining town with life in the past when the town was active.

Charles Darwin and his ship, the HMS Beagle serve as an inspiration to Lucky, both in choosing her dog’s name and in her desire to become a scientist. Students can find more information on Darwin and his ship.

Foster children: Lucky is afraid of becoming a foster child. How would this make her life different?

Presidents: Lincoln is named after U.S. Presidents Lincoln, Clinton, Carter, and Kennedy, because his mother hopes he will become president some day. Why do you think his mother chose the names of those particular presidents? Students can search for information on these presidents, using a variety of print and online sources.

12-step programs: How do they work to help people stop bad habits?

U.S. Government Surplus food program: How does it work? What foods do people in need receive? How do they decide who gets the food?

Weather: Weather in the desert played a very important part in the story. Students can use an almanac or online weather sources to discover what the weather is like during May and June in the California desert areas. They can create a chart plotting the temperatures and the weather conditions for the months of May and June, the months when the story takes place.

Many desert animals and insects are mentioned in the story: ants, black widow spiders, burros, chukars, craneflies, crickets, hoverflies, lizards, owls, rattlesnakes, red racer snakes, scorpions, sidewinders, tarantula hawk wasps, and tarantulas. Students can find information on these animals, and create illustrations and lists of facts which can be used for a classroom display or bound together in a book.

Students can also find information on desert plants: cactus, cholla, creosote, Joshua trees, locust, and tamarisk. They can create a similar classroom display or book of illustrations and facts.

The story mentions Sun Tea and Sammy’s chili, and the Clafouti that Brigitte often prepared. Students can search for recipes for these items, and perhaps concoct them in the classroom or at home.

Lincoln is ultimately described by Lucky as a “knot artist.” Students can learn how to tie different types of knots and examples of these can be used in a classroom display.

Students can use a variety of materials to make detailed models or dioramas of different scenes in the story: the town of Hard Pan, the area of the dugouts where Lucky went when she ran away, Short Sammy’s water tank house, and the area where Lucky’s three-trailer home was situated are some possibilities. Students might think of others.

The International Guild of Knot Tyers (of which Lincoln was one of the youngest members) has a Beginners section on their website: www.igkt.net/beginners/what.php which shows pictures and names of various types of knots and provides instructions for tying them.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture website provides information related to surplus food programs: http://tinyurl.com/5c7u5r

Recipes can be found at: http://tinyurl.coim/o2x2w This link leads to a recipe for Three-bean Chili, and others can be found there also. A recipe for Clafouti can be found at
http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/4141/cherry-clafouti.html

Desert weather can be found at: www.wunderground.com

Southern California traffic patterns can be found at: www.sigalert.com

Adkins, Jan, String: Tying it Up, Tying it Down. Scribner’s, 1992. (4+)

Arnosky, Jim, Watching Desert Wildlife. National Geographic, 2002. (2-3)

Belden, L. Burr, et al, Death Valley to Yosemite: Frontier Mining Camps and Ghost Towns. Spotted Dog Press, 2000. (5+)

Collins, Barbara J. Key to Trees and Shrubs of the Deserts of Southern California.  Lutheran College, 1976. (4+)

Dole, Jim W., An Amateur Botanist’s Identification Manual for the Shrubs and
Trees of the Southern California Deserts. Foot-Loose Press, 1996. (4+)

DuBosque, D.C., Draw! Desert Animals. Peel Productions, 1997. (4+)

Fredericks, Anthony D., Around One Cactus: Owls, Bats, and Leaping Rats.
Dawn Publications, 2003. (2-3)

Green, Jen, A Saguaro Cactus. Crabtree Publishing, 1999. (3-4)

Savage, Stephen, Animals of the Desert. Raintree, 1997. (2-3)

Sherrow, Victoria, Life During the Gold Rush. Lucent Books, 1998. (4-5)

Steele, Christy, Desert Animals. Steadwell Books, 2002. (4-5)

Stetson, Emily, 40 Knots to Know. Williamson Publishing, 2002. (4+)

Stone, Lynn M, Animal Life in the Desert. Rourke, 1997. (2-3)

Stone, Lynn M., Desert Animals at Night, Rourke, 1997. (2-3)

Wilgocki, Jennifer, Maybe Days: A Book for Children in Foster Care. Magination
Press, 2002. (4+)

Young, Daniel, The Paris Café Cookbook. Morrow, 1998. (4+) (Clafouti recipe – p.155)