The Golden Venture

by Jane Flory

Determined to accompany her father to the California gold fields, a young girl stows away in one of the westward bound wagons and finds herself involved in an adventure that requires all her wits and emotional resources.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1976

About the author

After achieving her degree from the Philadelphia College of Art, she worked as a free-lance writer and illustrator of children’s books. Flory was also employed as the director of evening division at Philadelphia College of Art for 16 years. Over her lifetime, Flory wrote and illustrated over 35 books for children, several of which were nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Golden Venture is my favorite book about the California gold rush in 1849. Written and illustrated by master story teller Jane Flory, The Golden Venture tells the story of a man and his eleven-year-old daughter's journey from Missouri to San Francisco. His search for gold is not delved into; however, the life she falls into in San Francisco is: helping bake hard tack to sell, fending off gangsters - luckily she's a crack shot with her squirrel rifle - and eventually, making a residence and bakery with an assortment of other good people on an abandoned ship in the harbor. The Golden Venture, along with dozens of other ships had entire crews, right down to the captain, abandon them, not even unloading the cargo, in their fever to get to the gold fields, hence the handy availability of a ship no one wants. Many interesting relationships occur in the story, difficult ones, friendships, even some love interests. Chapters are eleven to fifteen pages long, quite manageable when I read this book aloud to my eleven-year-old daughter. She loved it as much as I did.

[CLM]

I thought I read (and enjoyed) all of this author's work but this one does not seem familiar.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The California gold rush does not much appeal to me as a setting for books, but I enjoyed the two Jane Flory books I've read so far, and this was in my library, so I read it. It was very good! The main character, Minnie, stows away in her father's wagon when he sets out for California to get rich....and he leaves her behind with perhaps the one safe woman in all of San Franciso when he sets off for the goldfields. And most of the book is Minnie and her found family (other strays join the household) busily figuring out how to make money, culminating in a move onto an abandoned schooner, the titular Golden Venture, and making it into a lovely home. I love stories of kids at work, and home-making kids, so this was right up my alley despite the gold rush.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the premise of the book is a little far-fetched, once it gets going, it's a great adventure. Minnie and her Pa go West from St. Louis out to California in search of gold. They face their share of hardships along the way, but even more difficult times await them in California. Each night I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next--this time period is quite fascinating and the characters are particularly entertaining.

[Tirzah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun story about a girl and her father during the California Gold Rush. I was surprised there was one curse word uttered by an antagonist at the end of the book, but besides that a good, old-fashioned read.