Annotations for When the Whistle Blows


Baker & Taylor
Jimmy Cannon tells about his life in the 1940s as the son of a West Virginia railroad man, loving the trains and expecting one day to work on the railroad like his father and brothers.

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Baker & Taylor
Living in a mountain town in West Virginia in the 1940's, Jimmy keeps busy with his friends by playing sports and going hunting, but when he decides to investigate his father's membership in a secret society and his whereabouts in the late hours of the evening, Jimmy uncovers a truth that impacts him in ways he could have never imagined.

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Penguin Putnam
Jimmy lives in Rowlesburg, West Virginia, during the 1940s. He does all the things boys do in the small mountain town: plays a mean game of football, pulls the unforgettable Halloween prank with his friends in ?the Platoon,? and promises to head off into the woods on the first day of hunting season? no matter what. He also knows his father belongs to a secret society, and is determined to uncover the mysteries behind it! But it is a midnight encounter with a train that shows Jimmy the man his father really is.

Newcomer Fran Cannon Slayton?s powerful first novel captures the serendipity of boyhood by shining a spotlight on the peak adventures of Jimmy?s life. But at its heart, this is a story about a boy and his father in a time when trains reigned supreme.

?When the Whistle Blows is reminiscent of classic tales by Jack London, William Golding and Robert Louis Stevenson, yet carries the remarkable, fresh voice of its author. Fran Cannon Slayton should be extremely proud of this, her debut novel.??Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank and Identical.



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