Is Casper Llewelyn based on the boxer Stanley Ketchel?

At our One Read discussion with Tribune columnist Bill Clark we discussed a boxer, Stanley Ketchel. Bill believes Rose’s deceased husband, Casper Llewellyn is based on the real life boxer, Stanley Ketchel. Stanley started his boxing career in Butte, Montana in 1904 and had a reputation for living in the “fast” lane. He died in Conway, Missouri in 1910. For more information about Stanley Ketchel go to

International Boxing Hall of Fame     http://www.ibhof.com/ketchel.htm

Secrets

“The Whistling Season” is full of secrets. Of course there is the big secret at the end about Rose and Morrie. I won’t ruin the ending for those of you who haven’t read to the end.  But, what about all the other secrets, the backwards horse race, the Halley’s comet program? Do you remember other secrets in the book?

Mayor & Mrs Hindman’s discussion

Last night we had a great discussion on “The Whistling Season” at the Shelter Gardens one room schoolhouse. The setting was ideal and to see all the desks filled with adults discussing the One Read book was quite a picture. Mrs Hindman started the evening asking if anyone there attended a one room school house and 4 people had.  They added some genuine insight to the one room schoolhouse experience.

  Paul, the lead character in the book and the narrator of the story had very vivid dreams throughout the book and we discussed the importance of these dreams to the story. One participant mentioned that important people in books have dreams and referred to Job in the bible. Another thought the dreams were key to Paul finding out the secret of Morrie and Rose.

Let us know your thoughts on this or any part of the book.

See What the Author says

My narrator in “The Whistling Season,” Paul Milliron, educator and bookman and graduate of a one-room school that he was, would have fully known the value of a community read, all the way from its linguistic beginnings. “Communitas,” the root of our usage of “community”—in Paul’s well-thumbed Latin-to-English dictionary, these several meanings of “communitas” are given: “sharing, partnership, social ties, fellowship, togetherness.” What better rewards could readers and writer alike ask for, than the common ground of literary fellowship through reading?

Regards, Ivan Doig

2007 List of Suggested Titles

Each winter, the public submits suggestions for next year’s book. In January, a panel of community members reviews the suggestions, narrowing that list down to 10 titles, and then chooses two or three books to present for a public vote.

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2007 Program: “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

About the Book

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
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