Fran Slayton

A coming-of-age story set in a Rowlesburg WV from 1943 to 1949. The Cannon men have always worked on the steam engines at the Baltimore & Oriole railroad. Jimmy can hardly wait to grow up and take his turn as a machinist. His father keeps warning his boys that the era of the steam engine is coming to an end and that a good education will give them more options, but Jimmy’s older brothers – Bill and Mike both quit school at sixteen to work on the engines.

The book shines a light on boyhood – night time mischief, football games, first day of deer hunting season, favorite teachers and hated principal. It’s also an exploration of the father-son relationship, and how one boy struggles to figure out just what kind of man his father is.

Slayton has organized the work as a series of snapshots. Each of the seven chapters takes place on the same calendar date but in seven successive years. I thought she handled this pretty well, though if the reader doesn’t notice the year changing (chapter subheadings are not something I usually read), it can be confusing.
… (més)

Readers follow Jimmy Cannon's life between 1943 and 1949 as he relates events that are taking place in the little West Virginia town where his father is the railroad foreman. Each of the chapters takes place on All Hallows' Eve of that particular year, his father's birthday and a day that "you never know what kind of exciting things just might head down the tracks on All Hallows' Eve-- besides the trains, I mean." The ordinary events in this coming-of-age story are bittersweet and quietly luminous, and make for an enjoyable and nostalgic read.… (més)