MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES

MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES
Author: Polly Horvath
Copyright 2008
Schwartz & Wade Books
Random House Children’s Books
Hardcover
ISBN 978-0-375-84582-6 (trade) $16.99
ISBN 978-0-375-95582-2(library binding) $19.99
272 pages
Children’s Book


Jane Fielding is twelve years old and wants this summer to be full of adventures. Her single-parent mother and her three siblings live in a beach house as their permanent residence. Jane has the natural duties of frequently watching her little brothers and sister and in general just helps around the house and their church.

Her life takes a dramatic change when she agrees to help Nellie, the worship leader for their community, deliver Bibles to people. Jane, with Nellie’s input, comes up with a quick idea for getting rid of the Bibles. She manages to have all the Bibles inside a hot-air balloon, takes off in the balloon by herself, and then drops the Bibles from the balloon to the unsuspecting people below.

As Jane learns of her mother’s abilities in being a Pulitzer -winning poet and her possible former lovers, she matures and discovers adults who try to take advantage of her and the dreams of a best-friend. Also lessons are learned about healing hands, fortune tellers, and seers into the future.

MY ONE HUNDRED ADVENTURES is humorous and memorable. The life lessons that Jane learns during this particular summer pull the reader into her life and allow you to see through Jane’s eyes all the questions and lessons about other people, who they were and who they might become. As an adult, I see this book as written more for an adult audience than for children who are 9-12 years of age. This needs a reader who is a mature and patient reader and one who recognizes the needs of the elderly and knowing the difference between thrombosis and bursitis. However, I discovered this book to be the most delightful and my personal favorite of all her books.

Polly Horvath is a well-known children’s author who has written THE CANNING SEASON which won the National Book Award, EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE which was a Newbery Honor book, AN OCCASIONAL COW, and many more books. A native of Michigan, Polly Horvath now makes her home in British Columbia.