My100AdventuresMy One Hundred Adventures, by Polly Horvath • Schwartz & Wade Books, 2008. 272 Pages.

I’ve already waxed poetic on summer homes, and the way that the time breaks free of chronometrical devices and becomes attuned to the more natural rhythms of sunrise, sunset, childhood and adolescence. I think summer houses are liminal places, too, existing on the threshold between school years, between childhood and adolescence (how many coming-of-age stories take place in summer homes?), between water and land.

In My One Hundred Adventures, Jane and her family live at a summer house year round, occupying that magical suspended space perpetually. Family, in this case, is Jane’s three siblings, Maya, Hershel, and Max, and their mother, a prizewinning poet who shuns the spotlight and gathers berries, greens, and oysters to feed her family.

Every summer is the same, but Jane, at twelve, is ready for change. She makes a wish for one hundred adventures, and soon, strangers and changes come to her small world, bringing adventure with them. Like any hero, Jane soon finds that, at their essence, adventures involve a journey to one’s interior, and the change and growth that comes from beginning to know oneself.

This is a gorgeously written book, one that can slip from poetry to sly humor within an instant. Readers who love Madeline L’Engle’s remarkable families, and coming of age stories like Jacob I Have Loved will enjoy this book, as will daydreamy girls who love the sea & can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Older readers who like Fannie Flagg will also enjoy Horvath’s offbeat portrayal of small-town life.