Whirligig

Likely you have smiled a heap of times at whirligigs as you drove past them in someone’s yard — without knowing you were admiring a 10,000-year-old folk-art form.

Hitch weather vanes to windmills and you get whirligigs – an ancient device whose only aim is to delight onlookers.

Though once widely popular, whirligigs have declined in popularity except for those young in heart. A few local fans keep the historic appliances alive.

Every civilization dependent on the weather for farming or seafaring devised the simple pointer that suggests wind direction. Representations are found in Samaria, Egypt and China. We still rely on them.

Windmills – canted blades attached to a hub – turn wheels that grind grain, pump water or generate electricity – are almost as old as weather vanes. The talent that melded weather vanes and windmills is long forgotten, but not his/her legacy.

Medieval European tapestries show children playing with little whirligigs of a hobbyhorse on one end of a stick and 4-bladed propellers at the other end.

This was a time of chivalry and knights on horses wielding lances and swords to rescue maidens in distress. The 1440 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary specified “whyrlegyge” as “any spinning toy.”

In the late 1700s of colonial America, humane figures waving their arms — keeping swords, shovels, pitchforks and other implements – were popular.

When George Washington rode home to Mt. Vernon after the Revolutionary War he brought in his saddlebags “whilagigs” for Martha’s grandchildren.

Washington Irving in his 1820 “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” wrote of “a little wooden warrior who, armed with a sword in each hand, was most valiantly fighting the wind on the pinnacle of the barn.”

In the late 1800s, general whirligigs portrayed Indians paddling canoes, birds with flailing wings, men sawing wood and women scrubbing clothes in a washtub.

First settlers on the south shore of the Peace River roadstead of Charlotte Harbor was Fred and Anna Howard in 1875. The following year they were joined by Fred’s brother Jarvis and his family.

Jarvis held a diary and related their firstborn Christmas together in 1876. Among the gifts counterchanged was a “whirligig” from Fred and Anna to the Jarvis family. Size and design of the contraption was not stated.

Whirligigs experienced a renaissance for the duration of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Men out or work could make whirligigs with scrap lumber and trade them from their front yards for one dollar. This would feed a family of four for a day. (I know.)

Interestingly, whirligigs sold well. They were comparatively inexpensive and boosted spirits when times were grim.

A bestloved toy for the duration of the depression was the pin-wheel — basic whirligig. Dime stores sold them for ten cents, of course. They were constructed of a square of colorful celluloid – the firstborn plastic – the points of which were split, bent together and nailed to a stick. You devised wind to spun the whirligig by running or keeping it out a car window.

A beautiful, triple-tier pin-wheel whirligig –with multi-colored, counter-rotating vanes — grace a yard throughout the street from the Punta Gorda Isles Yacht Club.

The most spectacular whirligig in southwest Florida is when it comes to ten feet tall in Punta Gorda. It spins merrily at the western end of Olympia Avenue near the Visual Arts Center and Fishermen’s Village.

Its vertical and horizontal blades of polished and crimson stainless steel was invented — and is maintained — by Stephen Schwarz, a fellow member of the Visual Arts Center. He has various more such works of art at his home.

Traditional whirligigs are crafted by hobbyists like Gerry Philbrick of Punta Gorda Isles. He fancies established designs such as flying cardinals and little men sawing wood energetically in a breeze.

Many history and art museums feature whirligig collections. Private craftsmen give rise to whirligig “gardens” for fun and profit. Roadside craft marketers offer a wide assortment of whirligigs for sale.

The best marketer in these elements is Chris “Kringle” Williams the “Toy Maker” at Fort Ogden on S.R. 17 among Punta Gorda and Arcadia. His “Santa’s workshop” is set back from the highway but effortlessly visible. He and his wife Delores preside over a salesroom of thousands of handcrafted novelties in a historic general-store building.

Craftsmen – or craftswomen – will find a book by Anders Lunde interesting and instructive. “Whirligigs Design & Construction” (Chilton Book Company, Radnor, Pa.) may be ordered from any bookstore.

Lunde is credited with reviving the whirligig a quarter-century ago. A well-known painter and wood sculptor, Lunde won First Prize in a sculpture at the1981 Durham (North Carolina) Art Guild Juried Exhibition. He received two awards for his whirligigs at the 1983 Juried Exhibition of North Carolina Crafts.

His book holds easy-to-follow instructions and patterns for developing whirligigs – from pinwheels to elaborate groupings of assorted animated figures.

CAUTION: exposure to whirligigs could entrance you.

August 17, 2000

Whirligig

From Publishers WeeklyAfter a drunk teenage boy kills a girl while driving, his life is transformed by fulfilling a request of the girl’s mother. PW’s boxed review called Fleischman’s novel “stellar.” Ages 12-up. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library JournalGrade 7 Up?Vapid, self-absorbed, status-conscious Brent attends a party at which he suffers a very public rejection by the girl he’s been lusting after. Drunk, furious, and unable to deal with his humiliation, he tries to kill himself on the trip home, but his reckless driving kills a stranger instead: a lovely, talented, motivated, high school senior. Though Brent’s parents would like to minimize his sense of guilty conscience and his punishment, Brent himself is tormented and longs to make galore restitution. The court arranges a meeting with his victim’s mother, who asks Brent to “make four whirligigs, of a girl that looks like Lea….Then set them up in Washington, California, Florida, and Maine?the corners of the United States.” The brilliant Fleischman has written a beautifully layered, wondrously constructed novel that spins and circles in numerous directions. Readers follow the creation of each whirligig and it is affect on one or more observer: a young violinist, a Holocaust survivor, a Puerto Rican street-sweeper. They likewise follow Brent’s journeying by bus to the corners of the country and of his traveling within himself to find a remainder amidst recrimination and reconciliation. Though Whirligig has linear movement, it impresses readers more with it is sense of interconnected spiraling. Brent’s skill and inventiveness grow with each whirligig. The aroused responses of those who see his creations also vary: a lot of find joy, a lot of peace, some equilibrium. There is enormous vitality and hopefulness conveyed in this brief masterwork.?Miriam Lang Budin, Mt. Kisco Public Library, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From BooklistGr. 7^-10. A nonlinear narrative spun out from actions, both good and bad, and their ever-circling consequences, Fleischman’s latest is an strange construction, it is parts fitting together in delicate balance, much like those of the whirligig of the title and the story’s central metaphor. Driving home drunk from a party, Brent tries to kill himself by letting go of the wheel but rather kills another teenager. Her grief-stricken mother doesn’t seek revenge; rather, she hands Brent a 45-day Greyhound bus pass and tells him that, since her daughter Lea loved whirligigs, she wants Brent to build four, each with Lea’s face and name, and plant them in the four corners of the U.S.–Washington State, California, Maine, and Florida. Brent’s journeying of expiation throughout that summer alternates with beautiful, quicksilver stories, told in dissimilar time frames, of how the whirligigs that he builds and leaves behind profoundly affect the lives of a too-studious eighth-grader and her best friend in Maine, a Puerto Rican street sweeper in Miami, an adopted Korean boy in Washington, and a teenager and her dying grandmother in San Diego. Brent never becomes rather real; his struggle with tools, directions, and sorrow most times is pulled underneath by it is own weight, but the story as a whole and the inner sense of self that Brent achieves through his experiences are mesmerizing. The language of the whirligig stories gleams and soars: a metaphor of movement, dance, laughter, and irrepressible life. Like the ritual journeying in Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons (1994) and Uncle Ob’s whirligigs in Cynthia Rylant’s Missing May (1992), loss, fear, and guilt feelings in Fleischman’s story find a universally recognizable shape. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

Most helpful customer reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
incredible story!
By JulieTea@aol.com
As an English teacher, I am always looking for books that will hook my students. This is definitely one of them! I was entranced with this story from the first page. There are so many wonderful subplots in addition to the story of Brent. Everyone can learn valuable lessons by reading this book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Piece by Piece, A Beautiful Read
By Mary Beth Richardson
Brent Bishop can never fit in, so he tries to kill himself. Driving home from a party where he is totally humiliated, Brent deliberately crashes his car. He lives, but takes another’s life. A young woman, Lea, dies in the accident, & her mother wants only one thing from Brent. He must build four whirligigs in Lea’s likeness & place them in the four corners of the United States.

Brent makes his whirligigs much like Paul Fleischman constructs his heartwarming novel. The story moves seamlessly back & forth between Brent’s journey to piece his life together, & glimpses into the lives of the fragile people who encounter each whirligig. Their stories in each simple chapter build a satisfying & uplifting whole, just like Brent’s creations. This tale of redemption & restoration is a thing of beauty that will bring any reader joy.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
A Harsh Reality of Decision-Making
By EnglishTeacher
“We can never know all the consequences of our acts.” What a statement! These consequences can be good or bad–it all depends on the direction we choose throughout our lives. Through a tragic accident, Brent Bishop, found these consequences to be an unwanted invitation to the realities of life. Although Whiligig has a heavy lesson for us all, you will find it to be an enjoyable read. It is fast paced and allows you to look at the effects of one decision and how it changes the lives of many different people.

Brent Bishop’s family has moved to Chicago because of his father’s new job. With his father’s increase in salary, Brent is able to go to a private school for the first time. But his new high school does not welcome Brent like he had hoped for. He found himself playing the all-to-familiar game of tyring to fit in with the popular crowd. One night at a party, Brent finds that fitting in with the popular crowd leaves him with the feeling of being rejected. Brent’s feelings of rejection take him on a journey which meets a tragic fate.

It’s through this tragedy that Brent is forced to find meaning in life. Brent finds forgiveness and a new hope for the future by traveling to the four corners of the country experimenting with his new skills in carpentry.

Sometimes some of the most important lessons are learned through the expense of a tragedy. Paul Fleischman gives us a chance to reflect on how our decisions in life can change us in a split second. But even when we make bad decisions, there is always a lesson to be learned and our lives can more forward. Fleischman also shows us the harsh reality that our decisions not only effect us as an individual but the decision effects the people around us.

This book is great for junior high students who are looking forward to going to high school. It is also good for high school students who are beginning to make life-changing decisions. Plus, there is a lesson on forgiveness for adults. A book is always good when it can target such a varied audience.

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