The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky

The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky by Holly Schindler, 230 pages

Auggie Jones lives with her Grandpa Gus in Willow Grove, MO.  He’s a junk hauler and Auggie loves spending summertime riding with him to the local junkyard.  But as summer ends, things in Willow Grove change.  Auggie’s neighborhood school has been closed so she must go to a different school – Dickerson Elementary.  But Auggie and her friends are different from the students at Dickerson.  And Victoria, a long-time Dickerson student, makes sure they don’t forget it.

Victoria has it out for Auggie.  First, she steals Auggie’s best friend.  Then she announces her position as a junior member of the House Beautification Committee.  Victoria has her sights set on Auggie’s rundown neighborhood.  If Auggie can’t clean up her neighborhood, it will be torn down.  Auggie gets inventive and begins turning junkyard scraps into decorations to make her house beautiful – but the people on the City Council don’t always see things the way Auggie does.  To find out if Auggie is able to turn trash into treasure and save her neighborhood, read The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky.

Written by a Missouri author, this 16-17 Mark Twain Readers Award nominee shows younger readers the beauty to be found in unlikely objects, and that all communities – classy or shabby – have their own points of pride.