Set in the suburbs of modern-day Austin, Texas, Lucky Few follows three outsider teenagers as they attempt to discover themselves, their places in the world and just how much they mean to one another.
Junior Stevie Hart and her best friend, Sanger, have been homeschooled together since they were toddlers. But they swear they’re the “normal” kind of homeschoolers—not the weird children of hippies or religious fanatics. And yet when Stevie and Sanger discover a young guy who pretends he’s committed suicide—twice in one day—their lives and friendship take a turn for the extra weird.
They learn that this cute guy, Max, is actually Stevie’s new neighbor, and he only has eight fingers. In two months he’ll ship off to some sort of boarding school, and before he moves, he’s trying to complete an epic list of “23 Ways to Fake My Death Without Dying.” Stevie and Sanger don’t know what to think about Max at first, but once they agree to help him complete his list, readers watch the trio through their shared shenanigans and learn how they truly feel about each other. But as they attempt to defy death over and over again in the name of some “innocent fun,” are Stevie, Sanger and Max too weird even for Austin?
Lucky Few is Kathryn Ormsbee’s first young adult novel, in which she adeptly captures the feeling of being “other” that every single teenager feels at some point, no matter where or how they learn about life.
Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.
