Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize Adventures. Jane is twelve years old, and she is ready for them. She yearns to move beyond the world of her younger siblings and single mother and their cozy house by the sea, and to step into the "know-not-what" -- the place where your heart buzzes with excitement and things happen. And over the summer, whether she looks for them or not, adventures keep finding Jane. There's the thrilling solo ride in a hijacked hot-air balloon; the out-of-the-blue appearances of a slew of possible fathers; a weird new friendship with Nellie Phipps, preacher and wannabe psychic; the accidental crime Jane may have committed involving a Bible and a baby named Gourd; and finally, her discovery of the truth that lies at the heart of all great adventures: that it's not what happens to you that matters, but what you learn about yourself.
