Review (T2T): When the Whistle Blows by Fran Cannon Slayton

Tags: middle grade, YA, historical fiction, trains, fathers, rural

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary

Around the end of World War II, the tiny town of Rowlesburg, West Virginia, is undergoing some great and affecting changes. For years and years, steam engines have been a way of life for those living in Rowlesburg, but now there are rumors of diesel engines, and being out of a job, and the town turning into a ghost.

In the midst of this all is Jimmy Cannon, a typical boy who wants to have fun with his friends and have his father get off his back. Jimmy’s father wants him to escape the dying Rowlesburg, but Jimmy has his heart set on working on the railroads, just like every Cannon before him. As a result, he feels like his father is always working against him. As the years pass, however, and Jimmy gets into scrapes or learns lessons, he realizes that his impenetrable father may be one of the best men he’ll ever know.

Review

If you like historical fiction coming-of-age vignettes, you can’t do any better than Fran Cannon Slayton’s debut, WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS. While it’s not the kind of fiction I usually enjoy, the voice, characters, setting, and stories are really all delightful.

The synopsis heavily emphasizes Jimmy’s relationship with his father, but really, that theme is rather a gentle undercurrent throughout that builds into a touching ending. I enjoyed every vignette, one for every Halloween between 1943 and 1949. Each story stands strong alone and shows us what life is like for the teenaged Jimmy growing up in rural West Virginia. They’re entertaining, such as Jimmy’s friends’ Halloween mischief; they’re heartwarming, with the high school football championship game.

Death, laughter, adolescent naivety, and growth weave in and out of the prose, which is age, gender, and regionally appropriate. Indeed, Jimmy’s voice feels remarkably genuine: you will not mistake him as anyone other than a boy growing up in mid-twentieth century America, and at the same time he is completely relatable.

The development of Jimmy’s relationship with his father may have been a bit too subtle for me, given the importance the book seems to place on this pivotal relationship. It can occasionally make the vignettes feel disjointed. Overall, however, I am satisfied with the subtlety; we’re not hit over the head with news of their relationship, which allows us to understand and appreciate Jimmy and his father individually.

Like I said earlier, historical fiction is not my forte, but even so I can see Jimmy’s stories resonated with me long after I closed this book. WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS has a magical and timeless appeal, and is probably one of the most understated debut books of the year, so I encourage you to pick this up if your interest is the slightest bit piqued. You will be rewarded for doing so.

Similar Authors
Rebecca Stead (When You Reach Me)
Jacqueline Kelly (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate)

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - Not really something that would attract teens, I don't think, which is kind of interesting, as the book will probably appeal best to adults (especially those with kids) and older teens. After reading the book, though, the cover has grown on me. It's so appropriate for the mood and time period of the book.

Philomel / June 11, 2009 / Hardcover / $16.99

Thank you, Fran, for providing me with a copy for review!


This review is part of a Traveling to Teens tour. For more information, check out the T2T Weebly.

Waiting on Wednesday (38)

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June by Robin Benway

Three sisters, three extraordinary, life-changing powers!


I hugged my sisters and they fit against my sides like two jigsaw pieces that would never fit anywhere else. I couldn’t imagine ever letting them go again, like releasing them would be to surrender the best parts of myself.


Three sisters share a magical, unshakeable bond in this witty high-concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?


April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle-child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds—everyone’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they’ll always have each other.


Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood. [summary from Goodreads]

Oh my gosh. Robin's first book Audrey, Wait! pretty much defined my year when I read it in 2008. I laughed uncontrollably at nearly every page of the book, and Audrey's parents are still some of the coolest parents I've come across in YA literature. Now, finally, there's some news about Robin's upcoming book, and it sounds so cool! Very different from Audrey, Wait!, but I hope it still has a lot of Robin's trademark humor and characterization. Plus, the title and the cover are both awesome. Yippee!!!

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June will be published in hardcover by Razorbill on August 3, 2010.

Cover Lust (6): 2010 Covers, Pt. 1

We already know that 2010 is going to be an incredible year for YA and MG books... but have you seen how utterly BEAUTIFUL some of the 2010 covers are, also? Here are just a few of my favorites:

Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont

(Atheneum / March 23, 2010)

The story is about a pregnant teen girl who gets sent to a wilderness camp, and I love everything about this cover. I love the water splashes, and even the model's expression, and that random translucent swishy thing that I can't figure out what it's supposed to be. But the thing that I think makes this cover? The lighting. Just look at the way the "sunlight" hits the model's left side, as well as that little bit of yellow brilliance in the translucent swishy thing. This cover could be just another flat, generic picture, but the lighting makes it pop and really takes it to another, exciting, and memorable level.

For Keeps by Natasha Friend

(Viking Juvenile, April 6, 2010)

So someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that the top cover (which is the one I was familiar with) is the old cover, and the bottom cover (which is the one showing on Amazon) is the one they're actually going to use. I actually prefer the top (old) one, because OMGLOOKATTHEFOCUSTHEBORDERTHEWATERMARKPOSTAGESTAMP. Um, yeah. That one takes my breath away. The colors go from cool and dark at the bottom to bright and borderline gauzy on the top. Then, of course, there's also the clarity of the foreground that blurs into the background, making the identities of the two models second to what's evoked by their intertwined hands. Ah, love. *smiles*

Whereas the second one... hmm, I dunno... I like how their faces are still blurred so they can be AnyBoy and AnyGirl, but I think the first one is more emotional, while the second leaves less to the imagination. Well, I think both covers would sell well. What do you guys think?

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Stephanie Hemphill

(Balzer + Bray / June 29, 2010)

Dude. The hair. It's so... witchy? Well, anyway, I think it's really cool. And the title font matches the hair really well. This one evokes less than the first two, I guess, but there's still something about it that makes it appropriate for a 21st-century book about the Salem Witch Trials. Some sort of creepy mysteriousness, y'know?

So what do you guys think? Do you have a favorite out of these three (or four)? Which of the For Keeps covers do you like more? Would you pick these up in a bookstore, knowing nothing about the books?

Review: Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Tags: YA, magic, retelling, love, adventure, Arctic

Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary

Cassie is the daughter of an Arctic researcher and has grown up on an Arctic research station with the knowledge that her mother is dead. However, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie learns the shocking truth: her mother is imprisoned by trolls beyond the end of the world, and she herself is promised to the Polar Bear King in marriage. Cassie agrees to marry the gentle but powerful Bear if he will rescue her mother.

The wedding, which sprang out of necessity, soon blossoms into true companionship and romance. But Cassie makes a terrible mistake that costs her her love. Now, she must draw on all of her Arctic knowledge and courage to make a nearly impossible journey if she wants to save Bear.

Review

Please excuse me if I break from my usual review style for ICE. That is because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK. It had everything I wanted from a book of its kind: a feisty female protagonist, epic adventures, luscious writing, and the kind of romance that stops hearts and makes you remember why romance exists in the world. It was love at first sight for me and this book, and our love will continue to evolve and endure as long as my memory does not fail me.

From the first page, I was ensnared by Sarah Beth’s writing, which I must describe as “clean and fresh”: it’s like wiping away a dirty window and gazing in wonder out at a beautiful, crystalline winter scene. Sarah Beth wastes no words, and yet manages to describe for readers an unbelievably beautiful and mesmerizing world with simple prose. Her writing style will appeal to fans of fairy tale writing, for its gorgeous, ethereal descriptions, as well as those of realistic fiction, so well grounded in our world it is.

Indeed, the way ICE inhabits a perfect space in between fantasy and reality is one of its unique and strong points. I love that this old Nordic legend is grounded in science: a research station with modern characters and real-time technology. We weave easily in and out of the magic and the real, making this an interesting reading experience. Cassie is feisty and snarky enough to make her a great 21st-century protagonist, and yet she is also courageous and incredibly determined, qualities that connect her with other epic fantasy heroines.

Of all the great parts about ICE, I think I like Cassie the best. You don’t find girls like her very often in literature or real life anymore, girls who will do anything for love, girls who tire of domesticity and want to be useful, girls who don’t want romance to consume their identities, girls who are scared of growing up too fast and making decisions that will affect them permanently. I related to Cassie so well and admired her so much, I think I cried. I loved how she faced problems of things like love vs. self-identity with—let’s admit it—mistakes and awkwardness. For a character of a fantasy novel, Cassie is remarkably relatable and can instantly be your best friend and role model for realistic issues.

And of course, I cannot end this review without talking about the romance between Cassie and Bear. Fans of Beauty and the Beast (especially Robin McKinley’s Beauty) will see strong echoes of that kind of gradual love in ICE. Bear easily won over my heart with just a few lines of dialogue; if you want a nice-guy love interest, well, here he is. Gradual development of attraction and love are hard to come by nowadays, which is one of the reasons why I’m so happy the romance in ICE was done so well. Theirs is a love that grows subtly out of undramatic scenes, and is proven to be eternal by a literal “epic journey.” It is, once again, the result of the perfect blend between fantasy and realism.

ICE is certainly not without some weaknesses, of course. Supporting characters, especially Cassie’s parents, are rather underdeveloped, and super-picky readers may have trouble following the occasionally choppy plot. However, readers looking for an old-fashioned fairy tale would do well to check Sarah Beth Durst’s ICE out. Maybe I read it at the right time for me to fall head-over-heels in love with it—but I think that you’ll be able to appreciate the gorgeous world-building and story, no matter what kind of genre you enjoy best.

Similar Authors
Robin McKinley (Beauty)
Malinda Lo (Ash)
Donna Jo Napoli
Shannon Hale
Tamora Pierce

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Cover discussion: 3.5 out of 5 - I love the polar bear and the sense of blueness and, well, ice that pervades the cover, closely matching the landscape I imagine this story to be set in. However, the model is a little awkward looking and not as strong as I picture Cassie to be, despite having red hair and green eyes. The paleness of her skin is rather creepy to me.

Simon & Schuster / Oct. 6, 2009 / Hardcover / $16.99

Thanks goes to Sarah Beth for offering me your book for review, and to S&S for sending me copies!! <3