June 1, 1998
Gr 4-6-In 1866, Lucy Griggs, 10, becomes an orphan. After surviving alone on the streets of New York City for several weeks, she learns about the Children's Aid Society, an organization that helps children find homes. The group sends Lucy and other orphans west by train, hoping that they will be adopted. Lucy is afraid that no one will want a girl her age, but eventually a farmer takes her to his home in Missouri. Although her new family is not what she envisioned, she is grateful that she has gained a sister. The story is mostly upbeat; Lucy is compassionate and good spirited. A glossary and interesting information about the orphan trains, New York City, and the Children's Aid Society are included. This is the first novel in a new series and can be introduced with two excellent nonfiction titles: Annette Fry's The Orphan Trains (Silver Burdett, 1994) and Andrea Warren's Orphan Train Rider (Houghton, 1996).-Mary M. Hopf, Los Angeles Public Library
December 15, 1997
Gr. 3^-6. This small historical novel about one 10-year-old child dramatizes the experience of the more than 150,000 orphans who, from the 1850s onwards, were sent west on trains from New York City to find families to take them in. Lucy's immigrant father is dead. When her mother dies of cholera, Lucy survives in the alleys of the city until she finds the kindly Children's Aid Society and they take her on a train in search of a new home. At the first train stop, Lucy is devastated; no family wants her. Then she does find a home, not the perfect model she dreamed of, but a Missouri farm, where the family needs her as much as she needs them. Within the very simple docu-novel, there is suspense, surprise, and heartfelt emotion, and there is a useful historical note at the end. Nixon's popular Orphan Train Quartet and Orphan Train Adventure series are for older readers; this is the first title in her Orphan Train Children series for the lower grades. Be sure to pair it with Bunting and Himler's picture book "Train to Somewhere" (1996), also about a girl on an orphan train in the Midwest who fears that no one will want her. ((Reviewed December 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)
July 1, 1998
These short novels follow two of the children chaperoned by Frances Mary Kelly from Nixon's Orphan Train series as they leave New York to find homes with families in Missouri. The neatly executed plots are predictable yet entertaining, and the main characters are drawn distinctly enough to engender sympathy. An afterword of historical background and photos from the time period (mid-1800s) accompany each story.
(Copyright 1998 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)