One More For the Road

Around the World in 100 Days, by Gary Blackwood.  Dutton, 2010, 358 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

Bottom Line: Gary Blackwood spins an adventurous yarn about the progeny of Phineas Fogg making his own around-the-world bet.

Age 17 is a bit young to be thrown into the holding cell of Marylebone police station, but Harry Fogg is precocious in some ways.  It wasn’t his fault, or not entirely–even though he should have known that driving an experimental steam automobile (the incomparable Flash) down a London street crowded with horse-drawn vehicles might meet some unforeseen consequence–especially after his Indian-born mother bails Harry out of jail out and his reckless reputation precedes him to his father’s private club.  Certain gentlemen, who still have a grudge against the old man, goad Harry into making a wager that will duplicate the feat of that same Phileas Fogg twenty years earlier: circumnavigating the globe in 80 days.  Except that the son of Phileas Fogg will do it in a single vehicle, with an extra twenty days, and time on the ocean won’t count.

Thus begins the ultimate road trip, in a newfangled contraption that runs on its own power.  The bet Harry makes will soon have more than money riding on it, namely a promise to his father that if he loses he’ll “stop messing about” and settle on a profession for his life–in other words, grow up.  No point worrying about that, though: “Harry had the unfortunate habit of hearing only what he cared to hear and disregarding the rest.”  He’ll do the driving, accompanied by his friend John Shaugnessey, the inventor of the Flash, whose mechanical genius developed after a kick in the head from a horse.  Their duo becomes a trio when Charles Sullivan is forced on them as an impartial observer to keep them honest–even though he’s the son of one of men who placed the wager, so he may not be completely impartial.  On board the ship bound for New York, a newspaper reporter who introduces herself as Elizabeth talks Harry into letting her become the last member of the expedition: the communications wing, so to speak, who will file periodic reports to the Daily Graphic.  Soon enough it she has more news than she can handle.  Someone may be trying to sabotage the Flash, and sheer geography will take its toll as well . . .

Some plot developments the reader may see coming, but he (or she) will like the characters and want to see them to the end of their journey: impulsive Harry, differently-abled Johnny, persnickety Charles, chip-on-her-shoulder Elizabeth–and of course, the Flash.  There’s nothing like a long journey to sift personality and uncover secrets, including one about Harry’s own family.  Getting there is all the fun: floods, grassfires, kidnapping, nights in jail; encounters with Luddites, Cossacks, and locomotives.  Also a great introduction to the workings of steam cars (the most logical form of automotive power until the internal combustion engine superceded it).  The mechanically-minded will love it, especially the many inventive fuel options.  They’ll want to build their own!  I would recommend using a map or atlas to chart the journey, as the book doesn’t have one.  That reader will painlessly learn a lot of geography.

Cautions: Supernatural (Harry dabbles in Eastern mysticism on his journey, which was common for the time)

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 3.5
• Artistic value: 5

Categories: Middle Grades, Historical Fiction, Geography, Adventure