Whistlers' Van

by Idwal Jones, Zhenya Gay (Illustrator)

Newbery Medal Honor Title (1937)

After his grandfather disappears one night with a cart and pony, Gwilyn decides he wants a chance to wander through Wales as well. When the Ringos, a family of gypsies appear at the farmhouse and whistle, Gwilyn goes off with them for summer, full of music, adventure, and most important horses.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Juvenile

235 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1936

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some Newbery-winning authors spend a lifetime crafting masterful lit for kids. Elizabeth Janet Gray, Madeleine L'Engle, Russell Freedman, and Jacqueline Woodson are just a few who fall into that category. Then there are those who only ever wrote a few books, leaving us to ponder what might have been had they devoted their career to the art form. Others only dabbled in children's writing, but are best known for adult literature. William Maxwell, Mari Sandoz, and Idwal Jones are among the Newbery Honorees who belong in that group, and the case before us today is that of Whistlers' Van, for which Idwal Jones was awarded a 1937 Newbery Honor. It's an affectionate tale of Wales when Jones was a child, a young boy joining a band of Gipsies to see the world while his eyes are fresh and not dimmed by cynicism. Gwilym isn't content to quietly study in school while excitement is happening beyond his local valley. His grandfather, Thomas Anwyl, already seems to have followed the siren song of freedom by joining a Gipsy caravan on their journey out of town, and Gwilym yearns to do the same. With scarcely a warning word to his family, Gwilym hops aboard another Gipsy van and hits the road.

"All men are not like trees. For some it is best to be moving where the spirit leads, like our cousin the wind."

—Whistlers' Van, P. 233

What awaits a youngster in the company of hearty Gipsies such as as Natty and Jubal? They visit town fairs, wealthy estates, and Gwilym learns to rub shoulders with the affluent and not lose the common touch. Natty is smart, capable of leading the Gipsies someday if he's inclined, and his witty stories and good-natured cons keep his entourage entertained. Gwilym looks for Thomas Anwyl, loving the adventure but knowing it will end when he finds his grandfather and they return home. These weeks with the Gipsies are sure to influence Gwilym's future. Will he have itchy feet forever, unable to put down roots? Or will his urge to stay in motion be assuaged someday when he has his own family to invest time and energy into? Those are questions for tomorrow, but for now, Gwilym loves being with his unofficial Gipsy brethren. He'll never forget the thrill of being one of the clan.

"Who throws away a friend throws away much of his soul."

—Whistlers' Van, P. 233

It's Elias Schoolmaster who initially sends Gwilym to tag along with the Gipsies, though he only implies his permission. He sees the wanderlust in the boy's eye, and knows it's fruitless to require his body to be in the seat at school if his mind is traveling in style far away. As the teacher puts it, "Well, so it is with the trout and the hare—they will go their own way. And what avail is it to chide them?" Indeed, does it do any good to scoff at a person's nature and convince them they can live a lifetime in opposition to their strongest desire? Can a fish be talked into changing its swimming pattern? We must each walk our own path in life and see where it leads, frightening though the scenery we pass through may be. That's the only way we'll ever be content, as a wise old man tells Gwilym. "And remember, young sir, that nothing gives a man so much pleasure as the kind of knowledge that his soul needs." Gwilym needs the open road in order to learn who he is, and each of us needs something just as strongly to aid the process of coming to terms with our identity. The path will be winding and treacherous, but it's ours alone to travel, our life to experience to the full. I hope Gwilym someday found everything he longed for, and I wish the same for you and me.

"(T)ime flies like a mountain stream and who asks a question today may not hear the answer tomorrow."

—Whistlers' Van, P. 28

Whistlers' Van isn't a great book, though the concept is. The writing is slow and difficult to follow. The structure is there for a wistful tale of leaving home to find answers to your soul's deep questions, but I'm not sure the story fleshes it out. The endpaper drawings by Zhenya Gay are probably the most compelling part of the book, a visual of the trail meandering through the majestic mountains of Wales that evokes real emotional response, something I never got from the text. Newbery Honor spots weren't in short supply for 1937 (six books were chosen), but The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson didn't make the cut, and I would have given it an Honor before Whistlers' Van. I can see this book's appeal to some degree, though, and I might rate it one and a half stars. If you're a Newbery fan, give it a read. Don't expect Adam of the Road, but you'll pick up a worthwhile thought or two.

[Lynette Caulkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I imagine a young boy would like having this 1936 book read to him.

Despite a couple of glitches (like a brief mention of animal abuse that isn't adequately punished), I enjoyed this introduction for me into the world of the "Gypsies" or "Travelers" in south Wales during the decade after what is presumably World War I. We get several adventures along the road and a glimpse of the advent of automobiles into Traveler society and the friction that this caused.

Jones is respectful of the people Whistler's Van is portraying, and he writes of them with what seems to be an air of authenticity, although it doesn't appear that his immediate family was Romannic. It looks like this book was a nostalgic throw-back to his childhood in Wales.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book, of the travel adventure type. This one introduces readers to Welsh gypsies. Though it was contemporary realistic fiction at the time of its publication, it now reads much more like historical fiction because so much has changed about the world. I would tend to think that only kids with a historical interest would appreciate it nowadays.

Note to reissue publishers: A glossary would have been helpful. In addition to the Romany words, there are Welsh (and antiquated English - like "a surtout" meaning a man's overcoat) words and phrases that a child would not know. Much of the Romany is explained in the text, but is then reused. Having one place to go to for definitions would be nice. There are also many unexplained words that are perhaps too advanced for the average child reader, some due to lack of day-to-day familiarity with a life involving horses, like "hostler," "piebald," "curry-comb," "gunny-bags," and "tumbril," but others just because modern children's books don't use an extended vocabulary: taciturn, truculent, fusillade, gimlets, harbinger, osier, and lucerne. I am not recommending dumbing-down by eliminating these words, just advocating providing a useful tool to help the reader.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be a delightful surprise. I didn't know what it was about, really, but found an adventure of a boy from the Welsh moors who goes on the drom with some Rommany. They solve some mysteries and get into some trouble. This was an introduction both to the Rommany way of life and the Welsh way of life. I loved the way both of those languages were woven in; sometimes explained and sometimes left for the reader to understand by context.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got into it, I liked the story. It’s slow to start and lots of things are implied rather than stated.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another odd pre-WWII Newbery (Honor 1937) book by a Welsh-American. This one about a teenage farm boy (Gwilyn) in Wales who decides to follow his grandfather(Taid Anywl) when he leaves one night. He does so by hooking up with the whistlers', a pair of gipsies/Romany (both words used in the book, but not tinker) who have stopped by the farm once a year the past several years. The book takes the reader on an adventure through Wales and among the Romany; there are Welsh and Romany words as well as antiquated English words. It's not likely to find much readership among modern children which is a shame because it's a wonderful story of cross cultural interaction without much of the prejudice most books have toward the Romany. I confess most of my knowledge of them prior to this book was from the song "Move Along, Get Along, Go, Move, Shift". I read this for my Newbery Challenge and for my 2017 Reading Challenge "a book about a different culture" (Book Bingo).

[Desiree']

1937 Newbery honor book

[Cheryl]

I would like to try to catch up on the more appealing oldest Newbery books.

[Thomas Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about a boy whose grandfather decides to just leave for a few months without telling anyone why or where he went. Then a small group of Gypsies come and have the boy join them, since they used to travel with the grandfather, and drive around Wales for a while. That's pretty much the entire story in a nutshell.

Anyway, it was fairly interesting at times. I would almost call it a historical fiction, except that when it was written it was contemporary... Still, the premise seemed kind of lame.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time understanding this book because of the language, but I believe it was about a boy named Gwylim who goes off with some gypsies for a while. The only chapter where I really understood what was going on was the one about the Arabian mare, and that chapter was interesting although disturbing. I think I would have liked this better if I could have understood it better, or maybe I just wasn't focused enough while I was trying to read it.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second to running away to join the circus is the desire to travel with the gypsies.

[Scott Williams]

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