By Sarah Sullivan

For the Sunday Gazette-Mail

"When the Whistle Blows" by Fran Cannon Slayton; Penguin Group; $16.99

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a child, Fran Cannon Slayton loved to hear the stories her father told about swimming in the Cheat River and listening to steam engines chug through the mountains in Preston County.

Though she grew up in Northern Virginia, Slayton's parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins were all from Rowlesburg, where members of her family had lived and worked for the B&O Railroad since emigrating from Ireland in the 1850s.

Slayton loved visiting West Virginia during family vacations. Someday, she thought, she was going to write a book inspired by her family's stories. And now she has.

Slayton's first novel, "When the Whistle Blows" is being published this month by Philomel, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Already it has garnered two starred reviews in the national media. A reviewer writing in Kirkus Reviews called the book "an unassuming masterpiece." The praise is well deserved.

Uniquely structured as a series of linked stories, each taking place on All Hallow's Eve, the novel begins in 1943, when protagonist Jimmy Cannon is 12, and ends in 1949, when he is 18. Jimmy's father is a foreman for the B&O Railroad and Jimmy wants more than anything to be a railroader when he grows up.

But times are changing in Rowlesburg in the 1940s. Steam engines are dying out, being replaced by the more-efficient and less-labor-intensive diesel engines. Jimmy's father warns him that the future may not offer opportunities to work on steam-powered trains. But Jimmy doesn't want to believe him.

By Sarah Sullivan

For the Sunday Gazette-Mail

"When the Whistle Blows" by Fran Cannon Slayton; Penguin Group; $16.99

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As a child, Fran Cannon Slayton loved to hear the stories her father told about swimming in the Cheat River and listening to steam engines chug through the mountains in Preston County.

Though she grew up in Northern Virginia, Slayton's parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins were all from Rowlesburg, where members of her family had lived and worked for the B&O Railroad since emigrating from Ireland in the 1850s.

Slayton loved visiting West Virginia during family vacations. Someday, she thought, she was going to write a book inspired by her family's stories. And now she has.

Slayton's first novel, "When the Whistle Blows" is being published this month by Philomel, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Already it has garnered two starred reviews in the national media. A reviewer writing in Kirkus Reviews called the book "an unassuming masterpiece." The praise is well deserved.

Uniquely structured as a series of linked stories, each taking place on All Hallow's Eve, the novel begins in 1943, when protagonist Jimmy Cannon is 12, and ends in 1949, when he is 18. Jimmy's father is a foreman for the B&O Railroad and Jimmy wants more than anything to be a railroader when he grows up.

But times are changing in Rowlesburg in the 1940s. Steam engines are dying out, being replaced by the more-efficient and less-labor-intensive diesel engines. Jimmy's father warns him that the future may not offer opportunities to work on steam-powered trains. But Jimmy doesn't want to believe him.

In writing "When the Whistle Blows," Slayton says she was inspired by the true stories her father had told her. "He told me tales of death and glory surrounding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad," she says. "And he told me about his father -- my grandfather, whom I never met because he died when my dad was just a teen." Writing the book, Slayton says, felt like spending time with her grandfather and that, she says, has been "pretty satisfying."

In the novel, Jimmy's father is modeled after Slayton's grandfather, W.P. Cannon, who was indeed the foreman of the B&O Railroad in Rowlesburg during the 1940s. In "When the Whistle Blows," Slayton has created a vivid and rollicking fictional account of a boy's coming of age in a rural railroading town during the period of dieselization.

Halloween pranks, robbers, dead bodies and championship football games are just part of the adventures that Jimmy experiences as he learns more about his father who belongs to a secret society.

The novel is told in a first-person voice, rich with the cadence and details that reflect its setting. It is an especially good choice for boys and is reminiscent of Richard Peck's "A Long Way From Chicago" and "Year Down Yonder."

Slayton will speak at 3 p.m. June 29 at the Kanawha County Public Library. She will give a program on hometowns, intergenerational storytelling, the passing of family history from one generation to the next and about turning family stories into fiction.

A disclaimer here. Fran Slayton is a friend of mine. I met her at the Virginia Book Festival in Charlottesville in 2008. And I'm not surprised to see the great prepublication buzz her novel is receiving. Fran's Web site includes a terrific video interview in which she talks about the family stories that inspired her book. The site also contains information about Rowlesburg and about the history of dieselization. It's a wonderful resource for teachers and librarians who might want to include the book in their curriculum.

Slayton's appearance in Charleston is the kickoff event of her three-week promotional tour. Her program, to be held in the John V. Ray Room on the third floor, is for tweens, teens and adults. Borders Express will be selling copies of "When the Whistle Blows" during the event. A book signing will accompany the program. For more information, call young adult services coordinator Amy Arey at 304-343-4646.

Excerpt from 'When The Whistle Blows'

Every time I go to jump on a steam train as it chugs its way through Rowlesburg -- Every time I throw out my hands to grab the rusty metal rungs and haul myself up onto the side of one of them black coal cars, hoisting my knees up over its churning, screeching wheels -- Every single time I jump on a train -- my heart thumps even noisier in my ears than the clanking of the old iron horse I'm hopping up onto. I love steam trains. I love living in a town that's chock-full of 'em. I love being on 'em, being anywhere near 'em. They're as much a part of my life around here as the mountains. Or breathing.

Sarah Sullivan holds an MFA in writing for young people from Vermont College and is the author of "Root Beer and Banana" and other picture books. She can be reached at sarahgle...@gmail.com or, through her Web site at www.sarahsullivanbooks.com.