Grab When The Whistle Blows Rendered By Fran Cannon Slayton Accessible In Edition
comingofage story set in a Rowlesburg WV fromto, The Cannon men have always worked on the steam engines at the Baltimore amp Oriole railroad, Jimmy can hardly wait to grow up and take his turn as a machinist, His father keeps warning his boys that the era of the steam engine is coming to an end and that a good education will give them more options, but Jimmys older brothers Bill and Mike both quit school at sixteen to work on the engines.
The book shines a light on boyhood night time mischief, football games, first day of deer hunting season, favorite teachers and hated principal, Its also an exploration of the fatherson relationship, and how one boy struggles to figure out just what kind of man his father is,
Slayton has organized the work as a series of snapshots, Each of the seven chapters takes place on the same calendar date but in seven successive years, I thought she handled this pretty well, though if the reader doesnt notice the year changing chapter subheadings are not something I usually read, it can be confusing,
Posted on SLJ's blog today:
When the Whistle Blows is a surprising firstnovel that will especially appeal to your boys and young men, It is a growing up novel that includes scenes reminiscent of Richard Peck's Long Way from Chicago and has a classical mannerism that will steam its way on to state award lists all over the country.
Rituals at midnight, Launching cabbages at the enemy, Eerie cemetery scenes. Death. Humor.
Families joining together to thwart the tyrants in charge, The joys of living in the Appalachians especially hunting, swimming, and being outdoors, Looming changes hanging over your head as you are growing up,
I particularly love the way author Fran Cannon Slayton incorporates changes in technology from steam engines to diesel train engines to show how all of life in a community is impacted.
This will lead to a great discussion of how economies are impacted when "improvements" occur, Students who are facing the question "what will you do when you graduate" can empathize with main character Jimmy as he sees his lifegoals changing and options disappearing for the life he imagined.
Each chapter begins on All Hallow's Eve which happens to be Jimmy's father's birthday, Starting inand ending inFran Cannon Slayton shares not only growing up, but also the intensity of a fatherson relationship that changes as Jimmy becomes a man, The tension grows throughout as you, the reader, realize Jimmy's father is ailing, You want to warn Jimmy to appreciate every moment, each year, but you rejoice as you see him growing and becoming his own man,
This novel is fresh, smart, witty, warm, wellwritten, funny all those great adjectives you want to see and that help tip you over the purchasing edge, But it is also SO BOY, I love that. It is something to embrace and to not be ashamed, There is drama and there is football, It is a celebration of living with each new "birth"day chapter, but it is also a recognition of the part of death in our lives, Death is a mystery, a crossing point, a cry, a laugh, a lettinggo, a grieving, and a ritual part of living,
Sometimes you don't realize how much a book impacts you until someone else asks you what you thought of it, So is the case of When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton, I read it in one sitting and could not put it down, I thought about it and thought about how to review it, but kept putting it off to think, Then, another librarian asked me if it was any good,
What Any good This is an amazing novel, You won't get to see it until June,, but you will want to go ahead and preorder it, To the Teachers at my school who read over my shoulder, I am sorry but you cannot have my advanced reading copy, I like it so much that I actually wrote in it, dogeared pages, and flagged some of my favorite scenes, Do I want you showing students that sometimes these sacred library books become more than clean pages to glance over and preserve Do I want you showing students that fictional novels can become an important part of determining who you are Do I want students to know that books are worthy of study, thinking, and rereading Well, maybe I'll let you borrow it but only until I can get the final hardcover.
You will definitely want to check out Fran's website, She includes teaching information for librarians and teachers plus the extras we want to see in this ever connected world, Be sure to read about Fran's secret dream when she was writing When the Whistle Blows, There are some wonderful advance reviews out which made it hard for me, I wanted to purely read and develop my own opinion so any gushing on my part is purely involuntary and not just "metoo"ing, After reading, I did love the details in the Goodreads review by Jennifer Stradling from TeensReadToo, com fame. You'll be happy to note that Betsy Bird of AFusehas reviewed this, also,
"The freezing water weighs down our clothes, but our hearts float high in the current, arms linked as we cross the river side by side, It'll take hours for our clothes to dripdry as we sit and talk on the bridge, but we don't mind, We've got no place to go, We've got nothing but time, It'd be okay by me if this night just went on and on forever, And my father will never know, "
So ends one chapter in the middle of this warm and witty debut novel by Fran Cannon Slayton, I'm sharing that quote because it shows throughout thispage novel the beautifully written language that sneaks into this story of life, death, change, and growing up in West Virginia.
Yet at the same time, it brings us back to growing up and the impact this father has had on the main character,
Set in thes, the reader is taken for a nonstop ride into this fabulous comingofage story, The book centers around the life of a young boy who lives, breaths, and eats trains, Told in form of vignettes, the reader gets a snap shot in each chapter of a day in Jimmy's life fromuntil, One interesting aspect is that they are always on a particular day All Hallows Eve, which also happens to be his father's birthday, This fascinating novel gives the reader a glimpse into a time and place that is much different from the world we live in now,
As an English major, I have taken plenty of children and adolescent literature classes, and this wonderful novel could have easily been used in any of these classes.
This book is bound to be a favorite to many young boys and possibly girls who have a love for trains and adventure, I have to say that I have always been a fan of trains, so it was nice to see how well researched this novel was, Every thing for the feel of the town to the trains themselves feel authentic and well researched, I truly enjoyed this lovely story that took me back to a simpler time, Monday, Jan.I sit here, looking at When the Whistle Blows, Im not sure what to make of it, It looks like it might be for a slightly older reader than my comfort zone includes, Reading the various blurbs on and in the slim volume, it looks like its about a small town where the lifeblood is the railroad, Its been a while since I read a good historical novel, Ill give it a shot,
Monday, Jan.Ill have some down time today, so Ill get a chance to read, I grab When the Whistle, figuring now is as good a time as any to give it a go, I read the first chapter and keep on going, Its a good first chapter, James Jimmy Cannon and his older brother Mike sneak out in the middle of the night and witness the meeting of a secret society, Jessie is surprised to find that both his father and oldest brother, Bill, are members, Bill has already followed their father to work for the local rail company, and Mike has his sights set on the same plan, Not that any of this flatters old Mr, Cannon. Hes been saying for as long as Jimmy can remember that the new diesel trains are coming to Rowlesburg, West Virginia, to put them all out of work,
Monday, Feb.Its weird, Im taking my time with this one, The jacket proclaims similarities to Jack London and Robert Lewis Stevenson, but the humor and setting make me think of Richard Peck, In fact, the author even has a quote inside the front cover not a bad endorsement, The format is very Peckesque, Each chapter takes place on Halloween or All Hallows Eve, jumping ahead one year each time, The day is special because it is Jimmys fathers birthday, Each chapter works as a short story, but the larger story arc runs throughout, Some chapters, like when the students and The Society fight back against a new principal whos determined to hold class on the first day of hunting season, are funny and mischievous.
Others, like when Bill is believed to be on a wrecked train, pack a more weighty punch, All of them are well written, absorbing, and memorable,
Monday, Feb.Im getting to the core of the book, When the emotion comes, its sudden and strong, Turns out Mr. Cannon was right Rowlesburg is withering as new diesel trains make many old rail jobs obsolete, Jimmy, his heart set on the family profession, is at a loss for what to do next, Who cant identify with that feeling A major event results in a meeting of The Society this time with a new member,
Monday, Feb.I sit here, looking at When the Whistle Blows, thinking of how to review it, Then I get an idea: make the review like the book, Small parts, adding to a conclusion, For me, Slaytons debut will be anstandout, This slow and nostalgic book gives the reader a glimpse into the world of a small West Virginia town in thes, Jimmy Cannon wants nothing more than to work on the railroad like his father and older brothers, but his dad is determined to make sure that doesnt happen, Written as a coming of age story we follow Jimmy as he grows up and learns to deal with lifes challenges including death, disappointment and uncontrollable change, Each chapter is a different year in Jimmys life but every story takes place on All Hallows Eve, This format makes the book feel more like a collection of short stories than a full novel and you could certainly skip the very slow and somewhat cliché chapters about the football game and the first day of hunting season and not miss anything important.
Besides the two previous mentioned chapters, the stories are full of quirky small town characters and accurate descriptions of growing up in a railroad town, Im not sure if this book would appeal to inner city teens who might not be able to relate to the stories, and I would not recommend it to reluctant readers due to the slow and careful tone of the writing.
It would be a good suggestion for teens interested in railroads or as a companion piece to a history lesson on thes, I like the set up of this seven vignettes, each set on Halloween betweenand, It was really interesting to see Jimmy mature from chapter to chapter, and the resulting growth of the characters around him as he learns to see them differently, I think it was well done, I realized afterward that she basically wrote her father's teenage years didn't even change his name or town or ending, That somehow seems a bit like cheating, even though I know it's not really, g Growing up in the hills of West Virginia, all Jimmy Cannon wants is to work on the railroad just like his dad and older brothers, Dad, however, warns that change is coming, Soon the steam engines whose whistles pierce the air will be replaced with deisels, Once the deisels come, Rowlesburg will no longer be a railroad town, Jimmy cant see it, and he just wants things to stay the way theyve always been,
Fran Cannon Slayton creates an interesting structure for When the Whistle Blows ScholasticEach chapter takes place on All Hallows Eveor Halloweena year apart, starting in, The structure works quite well, Halloween is an important day in Jimmys life since it is also his fathers birthday, I enjoyed reading of Jimmys antics as he grew up, At first he is the younger brother, tagging along and trying to figure out what the grownups are up to, One of my favorite scenes was probably the night they planned to throw rotting cabbages at an older teens new car, but pelted the sheriffs car instead, As Jimmy grows older, the events of Halloween reflect his changing interests, from prankster to football star,
Throught it all, Jimmy is fascinated by The Society, a secret organization he is not supposed to know about, much less spy on, I guessed wrong as well as to what it was all about, It is not until the final, tragic chapter that Jimmyand the readerlearn its history and purpose,
also published on my blog at sitelink edublogs. org Closer to Some parts needed better editing, other points I wish were expanded or just left out, I can see how this is an ode to the author's family, but there is more to this coal town than a nostalgia trip,
Overall I was surprised by it's emotional depth, I did not expect it to have such a strong message of growth, empathy, and altruism, While this is very malecentric, and it did have the repression/toxic masculinity/patriarchy expected of thes, it did also have men genuinely expressing emotion and openly crying without shame.
Which was another great surprise, The railroads run in the Cannon familys veins, Thats why Jimmy is so sure thats where hes be working when he grows up, no matter how much his father demands otherwise, Jimmy feels his future is all set, especially since his father is the foreman of the Baltimore amp Ohio Railroad and both his older brothers have quit school to work there too.
All theres left to do is wait while he grows up, But as much as Jimmy would like to think everything will stay the way it is, change is indeed coming, just as his father promised it would, Now, Jimmy just has to keep up with it or fall behind,
When the Whistle Blows is a historical novel centering on the power of the fatherson relationship, Though I dont have any firsthand experience with this, being a girl, I felt this story portrayed Jimmy and his fathers evolving bond beautifully, Slaytons writing encompasses all the frustration, respect, protectiveness, and love the strongest fatherson bonds create in seven yearly episodes, Slayton also does a fantastic job of making the story realistic the characters were very believable and the setting and diction made the historical context authentic, Despite the story being set over fifty years ago, its message is still meaningful: change comes no matter how much resistance, And this can be change in any form, whether it is technology or familial situations, This message is only reinforced by the evolving train technology from steam to diesel and Jimmy and his fathers developing relationship, When the Whistle Blows is a solid debut novel full of hope for the future,
Fans of historical fiction, especially Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher, will enjoy When the Whistle Blows, I look forward to Slaytons writing as well,
reposted from sitelink blogspot. com.