If you enjoy pondering the wild west of the early 1900s, chucking over the tomfoolery of pre-teen boys, and trying to unravel mysteries, you’ll like this book.  The Whistling Season boasts an extremely educated wheat farmer, his house full of motherless boys, a raucous big-tent revival, high-stakes prizefighting, and a whole lot of oatmeal. 

The narrator is Paul, eldest son of a dryland farmer in turn-of-the-century Montana.  Though only 13, he is right-hand man to his recently widowed father, guide and confidante to his two younger brothers, and chief bottle-washer, errand-runner, farmhand, and cook. 

All is going relatively smoothly, until the appearance of a housekeeper and her golden-tongued brother, which turns the Milliron household upside down.  But in a good way.  The housekeeper has the domicile spotless in no time, as well as the local tongues wagging (who ever heard of such a young and pretty housekeeper?).  Her brother, a product of the University of Chicago, becomes schoolmaster halfway through the school year, and the thirty young minds in his charge, including Paul, will never be the same again.

It’s 1910, the year of Haley’s Comet, and Morrie, the new schoolmaster, is going to make sure no one misses the comet or its significance.  His inspired and inspiring astronomy lessons are of the sort that the reader will wish he or she had been lucky enough to sit through when thought was just beginning in his/her tousled head.  Indeed, they are the sort of lessons which inspire young Paul to pursue a career in education, leading eventually to the position of Superintendent of Montana Public Schools during the confusing Sputnik years, which is where we find Paul in various chapters of the book.

But back to 1910.  The pretty housekeeper and her glib brother come with a past, and it’s this history/mystery that keeps the pages turning.  Will their past catch up with them?  Will everyone continue whistling?  Will Paul learn his Latin verbs?  You’ll have to read the book to find out.  As Morrie would say, “Your fate is in your own hands.”