Here's to One Hundred More!

I like Polly Horvath's books. I have read Everything on a Waffle, The Trolls, The Canning Season and now, My One Hundred Adventures. I think that this new book may be my favorite.

The summer that Jane is twelve and living with her poet mother and younger sister and brothers in their home on the beach, she prays for 100 adventures. Her prayers are nearly answered (okay, she has fourteen adventures, but they're special ones) as she gets roped into heisting a hot air balloon to deliver bibles, treks around a lake looking for a transparent "poodle," is blackmailed into babysitting a family of untidy, unruly little children and more. Throughout the summer, Jane meets several of her mom's former boyfriends, and learns a lot about the adults around her.

My favorite thing about Horvath's books is her quirky sense of humor. Jane describes a farmer walking down the road with his cows, "It would be peaceful to walk some cows. They wouldn't bark alarmingly. They would moo in celestial harmony." I get a huge kick out of this!

This is fun reading and a nice change for me. It is lighter, without being fluff. Adults like me can read it and enjoy themselves, and I think thoughtful kids will like it too.