Bernie Bridges is the luckiest kid at Rotten School. He wins every game he plays, doesn't get into any trouble, and even finds money! So what's the catch? For the good luck to stick, Bernie has to keep his parrot, Lippy, on his shoulder wherever he goes.

Lippy's luck is so powerful that Bernie's friends, Feenman and Crench, want in, too. But the minute they touch Lippy, everything changes—Lippy turns into a bad-luck bird.

Now nothing Bernie does goes right. Bad luck follows him wherever he goes. There's only one solution, thinks Bernie. He'll give the bird away to his archrival, Sherman Oaks.

But hold on! Now Sherman is having all the good luck in the world. Has Bernie made a big mistake? Can he get both his bird and his good luck back—or has his luck run out for good?

• January 2012 Indie Next List
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