The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig is a 2007 Alex Award winner.
If you've read this book, please leave a comment with your review of it and whether you think other readers are likely to find it engaging (do you think they’d be eager to finish it and perhaps start reading another book when they are done). If you recommend the book, please also state any themes or topics that would be good for discussion. Thanks.
4 comments:
If you search The Whistling Season on Amazon the book most purchased along with it is Water for Elephants. Interesting...
This novel is set in the 1950's in Eastern Montana revolving around a one room school house. The main family in the novel, recently widowed, has hired a housekeeper from a newspaper ad and she brings her quirky brother along. The town finds out that all of the One-Room School houses are being closed down and they will be evaluated. It has an interesting twist as well towards the end.
I enjoyed this book but found it a bit slow at times. I think that discussion could be around small town living out in the country, the 1950's soviet era, one-room school houses... The characters are well developed and interesting. I don't have a strong leaning towards this novel for our purposes, but personally enjoyed it.
I read all of it in the space of a few hours during a sleepless night. I didn't find it very uplifting, in fact the ending, which was arguably the most satisfying part although too short, made me kind of depressed. While the teacher in the novel does come off as amazing and incredibly intelligent, the age of his classroom bars me from identifying too much with his students and I think others may find this the case as well. It helps that the narrator, Paul, makes himself a very old thirteen-year old.
The writer does a fine job highlighting the plight of one-room schoolhouses, while hinting at the eventual extinction of little Midwestern farm towns. How much our students will like that is up in the air. The language was superb, even if a few of the plot movers were a little tired. I'd like to think of it as a grown up version of Mary Poppins, except her chimney sweep friend speaks impeccable English and sometimes fixes fights. Despite the kids being young, it still deal with universal schoolyard issues -- bullying, class and race distinction, keeping secrets, small crushes -- all in a very real fashion.
i read this last year when we were considering it. i think it's well written and peaceful. enjoyable for a light, summer read, but i think it's a bit slow, would be hard for our students to relate to and does not have enough discussion topics to be a selection for the program.
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