A bitter and bullied down-on-his luck husband can't seem to catch a break, having to deal with his fortune teller wife in a marriage he was coerced into by her parents. But two pieces of luck just might change his life: his long lost first love returns to his life and he wins the lottery.

"Much of what we experience in life results from a combination of skill and luck." - From the Introduction The trick, of course, is figuring out just how many of our successes (and failures) can be attributed to each-and how we can learn to tell the difference ahead of time. In most domains of life, skill and luck seem hopelessly entangled. Different levels of skill and varying degrees of good and bad luck are the realities that shape our lives-yet...

"If Penny Brighton didn't have bad luck, she'd have no luck at all. She lost her job. And her apartment. In the same day. But it's okay, her friend has a cozy storage unit she can crash in. And there's bound to be career opportunities at the neighborhood laundromat--just look how fast that 12-year-old who runs the place made it to management! Plus, there's this sweet guy at the community center, and maybe Penny can even have a conversation with him...

Compared to the problems of some of the creatures the old man describes, the boy is really quite lucky.

The unlikely friendship of Arnold and Louise--a big bear and a chatty chipmunk--is tested when Louise claims to be able to predict the future.

"Janes and Danny are on a mission: to get the little silver race car out of the gumball machine at Mr. Wrights store. Only very, very, lucky people get both gumballs and the silver racer. It's a good thing one of James's quarter is a Canadian quarter, which just so happens to be very, very lucky. But is it lucky enough to get him that silver racer." -- Jacket.

After his fortune cooken is stolen by the school bully, Ben tries to get his fortune back by taking his case to the Kid Court.

The life of the eighteenth-century African prince who, after being captured by slave traders, was brought to Massachusetts where he was a slave until he was able to buy his freedom at the age of sixty.

Eight-year-old Ben takes a fortune cookie literally, and believing he has only one day left to live, tries to do everything he has always wanted to before nightfall.