Kids Into Books: A Whistle from the Blunder

Author: Diana Noonan

Age: 10+ years

Illustrator: Jenny Cooper

Publisher: Longacre Press, $14.95


Ralph was still pulling on his green work jersey when he came into the kitchen an hour later and tousled Cadence's hair. She tried not to pull away. He'd done that same thing for years - only now that she was almost thirteen, she wished he wouldn't.

"Stoked the fire?" he asked. "Got the kettle boiling? Got to earn your keep." He grinned and Cadence grinned back. She couldn't help it. She pulled her feet out of the oven of the coal range where she'd been warming them. Ralph immediately threw in his socks and stoked the fire box.

"Spr-i-ng is in the ai-i-r," he sang loudly. He reached into the cupboard for some jars and slid them along the table. Cadence grabbed them before they ran off the end.

"Catch!" he called, throwing her a plate.

Sometimes, Cadence didn' t know how two people as different as Ralph and Aunty Liz could live together without driving each other crazy. Except or what usually happened was that Ralph didn't take anything Liz said too seriously - at least he pretended not to. And except for holidays, when she wasn't teaching, they didn't see each other from morning till night.