• Whistling Past the Graveyard

  • By: Susan Crandall
  • Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
  • Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (3,930 ratings)

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Whistling Past the Graveyard  By  cover art

Whistling Past the Graveyard

By: Susan Crandall
Narrated by: Amy Rubinate
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Publisher's summary

In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother's Mississippi home. Starla hasn't seen her momma since she was three - that's when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starla's daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of "Lord, give me strength," is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking....

If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change Starla's life forever. She sees for the first time life as it really is - as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be.

©2013 Susan Crandall (P)2013 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Critic reviews

"Starla's fiery independence makes her a likable narrator." ( Publishers Weekly)
"It's not easy to keep such a young narrator convincing for more than 300 pages.... Readers will take to Starla and be caught up in her story." ( Booklist)
"A coming-of-age story as well as a luminous portrait of courage and the bonds of friendship.... Susan Crandall tells young Starla's story with pitch-perfect tone, evoking 1963 Mississippi and its struggles with a deft hand. I laughed and cried at Starla's keen observances of life and family and the sometimes blurred edges of justice. Like Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Kathryn Stockett's The Help, Whistling Past the Graveyard is destined to become a classic." (Karen White, New York Times best-selling author)

What listeners say about Whistling Past the Graveyard

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Loved it!

I enjoyed this book so much! I hated for it to end. I thought the speaker did an excellent job. The book brought up a lot of emotions and certainly made me grateful and appreciate what I have today.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Phenomenal

Amazing story told through the eyes of a child. Starla is forced to see the injustices of a world filled with hate, and change, as she fights to find her place.

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Huh! I was proved wrong!

I didn't think I would like this book, to be honest. I was not enjoying the m.c. Personality and her "red rage" as described in the beginning of the story, but I'm glad I stick through- it was a touching, and beautiful story with a very fitting ending. It doesn't leave you wondering or scratching your head- very real, yet very perfect. Loved the closure. 5 stars.

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Fascinating Story

Far exceeded my expectations.
A thoughtful, sad story, happy, teaching us an important lesson about racism, hate, love and friendship between the races.
A must read for anybody that is pro equality!

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Great Listen

What did you love best about Whistling Past the Graveyard?

Good story and good narrator

What was one of the most memorable moments of Whistling Past the Graveyard?

When Starla comes to realize that all people matter

What about Amy Rubinate’s performance did you like?

Easy to listen to

If you could take any character from Whistling Past the Graveyard out to dinner, who would it be and why?

None

Any additional comments?

Good story that made me anxious for my next opportunity to listen

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Gripping from the first chapter.

This story was such an awesome diamond in the rough. It covers all range of feelings.

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Adventure of a female huckleberry

I loved this book. Thank you baby Jesus for this AMAZING book. It's a great adventure of a ten year old who runs away to find her famous mama...so she thinks. She bumps into a colored woman with a heart of gold. Of course the relationship of white and black was taboo but these two were such a wonderful friendship. It will make you laugh, cry, and appreciate everything. The writer is amazing. The Narrator did great on every characters voice. I am a pool of goo now. A must read/ hear....

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So close you want to reach out...

The author puts you so close to the action you want to reach out your hand and.... we'll, I won't spoil it.

Starla is all of her nine years. Filled with limited experience and unlimited potential to learn beyond her experience. The Reader can see what's coming and while powerless to stop Starla from plundering forward, The Reader knows that hard lessons are often the best lessons

If it doesn't get Starla killed in the learning. There were times I was legitimately frightened for her life. Was this going to end with a "I see dead people moment" and her narration was from beyond the grave? Was the protagonist going to shift? Help her Baby Jesus!

The Reader is right there in the hot bed of civil rights violence of the early 60's. In the hot bed of civil rights violence of 2016, the parallels are chilling. How far we have not yet come. But it reminds us of the capacity the human heart has for grace, compassion, and understanding. Maybe there is hope.

I should have been asleep 4 hours ago. I just couldn't turn it off. The Audible equivalent of a real page turner.

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Excellent

This is an audible that is out of the ordinary. Not to be missed.
I always read the negative reviews because there is usually something that will resonate with me. Then I weigh the reviews carefully.
There is NOTHING I did not enjoy about this listen.
I believe it is for just about everyone.
I rate stars most times and honestly. I seldom leave a written review. Only if I feel strongly one way or another.
Take a chance on this one. Well written, profound, and excellently narrated. Beautiful and, while fiction and a novel the whole way, touches upon life, heart and so much more than "black and white". I would love to sit down to a thanksgiving dinner with the characters in this story.
Thank you author and performer for this.

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Whistling past the graveyard

I enjoyed this book except for the way black people were treated still in the 50’s
I heard so much and learned why anger still exist. . It was hard to see how subservient black Americans were back then.

It’s a good read and you will learn a lot if you are interested in these times how a loving one black woman could love a white child.

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