When the Whistle Blows

Name: When the Whistle Blows
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Fran Cannon Slayton
ISBN: 9781441826718

Author: Fran Cannon Slayton

Narrator: Peter Berkrot

Unabridged: 3 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 01/20/2010

Categories: Children's Fiction

Synopsis

Meet a town and a train and a time and a boy—Jimmy Cannon. And meet his father—as strong as a Mallet locomotive—whom Jimmy simply cannot figure out! But who, in a dramatic and unexpected twist, turns out to be so much more than Jimmy ever knew. In a book that goes to the core of boyhood—its Halloween mischief, its hunting day mystery, its championship football game surprise, and its nighttime adventures—Fran Cannon Slayton brings her listeners to the breathtaking crossroads of an unforgettable West Virginia railroad town, a family that matters, and adulthood itself.

About Fran Cannon Slayton

Fran Cannon Slayton found her inspiration for When the Whistle Blows from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove and “stories my father, aunts, uncles and cousins told me about Rowlesburg, West Virginia.” She lives with her family in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Roxanne Hsu

Judging by the somewhat muted and sleepy cover, I thought I was going to read a "pensive, quiet" coming-of-age, historical fiction. It turned out that the story is NOT all that quiet: every episode falls on an All Hallow's Eve from early-40s to late-40s. You get the thrill of the secret Society's we......more

Goodreads review by Kristin

Closer to 3.5. 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 stro......more

Goodreads review by Diane R.

Posted on SLJ's blog today: When the Whistle Blows is a surprising first-novel 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 a......more