This is a heartwarming, inspiring, uplifting story of courage and optimism as told through the eyes of a seventh-grade boy in Montana in 1909 and the one-room schoolhouse that serves as the center of his community. Doig's writing is superb, drawing the reader ever forward at an even pace with creative uses of language and humorous plays on words. In a way, the book is an ode to great teachers, no matter their credentials, such as the one who leads the Marias Coulee school for most of the story. ( )

I don't have any idea how I heard about this book. It is certainly NOT the kind of story I'd normally gravitate to. And I regret to say I'd never heard of Mr. Doig.

But wow.

I am so glad I gave it a try. This book is a treasure.

His writing is exquisite, the characters (including the most important one -- the land) are some of the most vivid I've read in ages, and the pacing is a slow build that turns on a dime. Wonderful!

It was one of those books that I honestly hated to finish. I almost never give 5 stars, but this one earned each and every one. ( )

Ivan Doig's best book, The Whistling Season, should be required reading for all teachers -
featuring a lot of fun and mystery for the rest of us!

From Whistling Housekeeper to Whistling Swans, readers can share Paul's unusual journey through the secrets of living.

Sure wish that Morrie Morgan had added Cooking to his Science teaching - a lot of students and their families would have benefited greatly!

Harmonices Mundi to Marias Coulee splendid rural school! ( )

Doig's fiction, set in early-20th-century Montana, always rings true, and this coming-of-age tale is no exception.

Narrator Paul is the eldest of the Milliron boys at 12, when their widowed father, intrigued by a personal advertisement, hires a housekeeper to come out from far-off Minneapolis to bring order (and home cooking) into their bachelor existence.Things don't go as planned from the get-go -- for one, she doesn't cook, and for another, she has brought her somewhat dandified brother along with her. It's obvious that there is more (and less) to Rose Llewellyn than she's telling, but when the full story is finally revealed, most readers won't have seen that particular twist coming.

Meanwhile, it's a pleasant and nostalgic journey through the year of a small dryland farming community, enlivened by an unexpected turnover at the one-room schoolhouse and by the 1910 arrival of Halley's Comet. Much of the drama centers around that schoolhouse and the adventures of Paul, his brothers, and their schoolmates.

Doig uses a framing device to tell the story as a grown-up Paul, now the Superintendent of Montana's Public Instruction must face the bitter task of overseeing the closure of the state's one-room schoolhouses. It seems an odd stylistic choice at first. The main thrust of the novel deals with Paul's coming-of-age, and it's a bit jarring to have it shell out every five or six chapters so the adult Paul can step in, wrestling with the decision he knows he must make but resisting it with all his heart. Doig, however, has had a good reason all along and manages to bring everything to a satisfying and relevant conclusion. ( )

“No cocina, pero tampoco muerde”. Así comienza el anuncio en el que Rose Llewellyn, una viuda de “buenas costumbres y disposición excepcional”, se ofrece en el otoño de 1909 como ama de llaves; la frase capta de inmediato la atención de Oliver Milliron, un viudo con tres hijos y poca maña en las tareas domésticas, que la contrata para poner un poco de orden en su casa de Marias Coulee, Montana.
Y así comienza también la inolvidable temporada que Rose y su hermano Morris, un dandi sabelotodo, pasarán en este pueblo de granjeros. Cuando la maestra local se escapa con un predicador, Morris se verá obligado a aceptar su puesto; sus particulares métodos de enseñanza marcarán para siempre a los jóvenes alumnos de la escuela rural. Ni ellos ni la familia Milliron ni el pueblo de Marias Coulee volverán a ser los mismos tras la llegada de Rose y Morris.