Boston Jane: An Adventure

Jane Peck is a Pennsylvania girl in the 1850s who loves to run, spit, and throw wads of manure at unsuspecting carriages. When her father's apprentice, William, suggests she attend a finishing school to learn how to be a "proper young lady", she jumps at the chance and quickly learns all about embroidery, pouring drinks, how to dress, and be a hostess.
However, when William goes West and later invited Jane to join him as his wife, she arrives in the newly-formed Washington state to find that all her "proper lady" learning is pointless and impractical on the frontier.

This was a fun read. Author Jennifer Holm has a gift for bringing the wilds of the frontier alive through a main character who just doesn't fit in. A great one for young show more adults. show less

Sixteen-year-old Jane Peck has ventured to the unknown wilds of the Northwest to wed her childhood idol, William Baldt. But her impeccable training at Miss Hepplewhite's Young Ladies Academy in Philadelphia is hardly preparation for the colorful characters and crude life that await her in Washington Territory.

Thrown upon her wits in the wild, Jane must determine for herself whether she is truly proper Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia, faultless young lady and fiancée, or Boston Jane, as the Chinook dub her, fearless and loyal woman of the frontier.

In middle school I was so enamored with this book that I read the whole book from start to finish EVERY night for a week. It resonated with me, I loved the characters, the plot, the romance, the adventure. I am soo pleased that even reading this book as an adult holds up. It is soo good! At sixteen Jane leaves her father behind in Boston and sails to the wild frontier of California to meet and marry William, a former apprentice of her father. When she arrives to the bay her betrothed is nowhere to be found. And the settlement is only a trading post and a local Indian tribe. With no other options she puts all her etiquette skills to use, mending clothes for the men, trading with the Indians, and trying to figure out cooking. All the show more while there is a handsome and rugged sailor who has his eye on her if she'd only notice. Lots of action, hilarity, and character development. I can't recommend this enough! show less

I picked up this book to read for my nook from my local library, when I wanted something quick & fast to read. I didn't realize it's young adults (and considered middle school at that, which I don't normally read too much of) so the book was a lighter than I had planned, but overall was a great read.

Poor Jane - she falls in love with a man vastly unsuited for her, and from almost the very beginning of the book does everything she can to make him love her even more. Very true for its age, this drove me nuts throughout the book. Daughter of a doctor, I kept expecting her to take care of people, which never happened, which also drove me nuts.

All of that being said, however, I just loved Jane. You couldn't help but groan at her whenever show more she made (another) bad decision but you couldn't help routing for her all the same.

So you are probably wondering why I gave this book 4 stars, when I am not exactly raving about the book so far? Well, it's Miss Hepplewhite - the schoolteacher who teaches Jane how to be a proper young lady. So much of Miss Hepplewhite's teaching comes from a book actually written at the time, and it's fascinating to me some of the things she teaches. Though I knew women were raised to be docile and servants to men, it always amazes me to read that women actually acted that way! show less

Reading Level 4.9 however, I would reserve this for upper grade interest or reading age due to romance in book. The romance is tastefully done and Jane's etiquette training was enjoyable to read about. This was an easy and enjoyable read for me. I lived in the NW for a time being and I appreciated reading more about this from an historical fiction standpoint. The book portrayed a young girl's struggle with making her own choices compared to what she had been taught in her finishing school, but that also conflicted with what her surgeon father believed. I enjoyed the conflict of interest and it gave me some ideas to think about. It was an easy read for me, which is nice every so often.

The setting of this book begins 1855 in Philadelphia and Shoalwater Bay Washington Territory. Jane Peck is a 16 yea0-old girl who lives with her father who is a doctor. Jane is betrothed to a young man named William and she is to sail from Philadelphia the Shoalwater Bay to meet William. On the way she has a very unfortunate journey due to a bad storm in which she loses her maid, Mary. Because of the storm Jane arrives later than expected and William has already left the territory thinking she has gone back on her word. Jane then has to house with various strangers and meets many Indians of the area. Back in Philadelphia, Jane had learned etiquette, and in Shoalwater Bay there is no use for that. Jane eventually falls ill to smallpox, show more but survives.

Reaction: This book is written with excellent detail. Anyone could picture the events. Although she is from a different time, Jane is relatable.

Extension: A way to extend this in a class room would be to include studies of the Chinook tribe that Jane encounters and maybe compare the tribe to Jane's people from Boston in that time period. show less

I really enjoyed this book, even more than I was expecting to. Jane is a great character, because she's strong, and has an independent streak, but is still vulnerable to other people's opinions. She manages to overcome huge obstacles to get where she wants to be, and it's great following her through her successes and failures.