Dawn (homeschooler06) reviewed A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures, Bk 1) on + 38 more book reviews
A great book!
My son enjoyed this book, he has not been reading much, and to see him really enjoying something other than a video game is refreshing.
Carla B. (puppyluv) reviewed A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures, Bk 1) on + 552 more book reviews
Winner of the Golden Spur Award
This is as close to perfect book as you'll buy. Filled with just plausible historical figures and incidents.
Annotation
When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.
From the Publisher
When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.
From The Critics
Children's Literature
From the 1860s to the late 1920s orphaned children were rounded up in New York City and sent via train to live with farm families in Missouri and other points West. Nixon's first book in the series, "The Orphan Train Adventures" finds a struggling widowed mother trying to feed and care for six children. When her eldest son is caught stealing for the family his mother makes the choice to send her children West to protect her son from jail and all of them from a miserable life. Her eldest daughter becomes the strength of the family by trying to make sense of why their mother has seemingly abandoned them. What will become of them? Who will be their new families? Will they ever see each other again? The series begins to unfold in this extremely moving and well-paced novel. It provides a rich look into problems immigrant and orphaned children faced during a difficult time in our developing nation. Highly recommended for classroom and libraries. 2000, Gareth Stevens, Ages 8 to 12,
This is as close to perfect book as you'll buy. Filled with just plausible historical figures and incidents.
Annotation
When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.
From the Publisher
When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.
From The Critics
Children's Literature
From the 1860s to the late 1920s orphaned children were rounded up in New York City and sent via train to live with farm families in Missouri and other points West. Nixon's first book in the series, "The Orphan Train Adventures" finds a struggling widowed mother trying to feed and care for six children. When her eldest son is caught stealing for the family his mother makes the choice to send her children West to protect her son from jail and all of them from a miserable life. Her eldest daughter becomes the strength of the family by trying to make sense of why their mother has seemingly abandoned them. What will become of them? Who will be their new families? Will they ever see each other again? The series begins to unfold in this extremely moving and well-paced novel. It provides a rich look into problems immigrant and orphaned children faced during a difficult time in our developing nation. Highly recommended for classroom and libraries. 2000, Gareth Stevens, Ages 8 to 12,
LINDA D. (readinggrannie) reviewed A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures, Bk 1) on + 9 more book reviews
A story of true mother's love. In 1856 in New York City a widow realizes that she cannont give her 6 children the life they deserve. She makes the ultimate sacrifice of love and sends them west on the orphan train to find better lives with new families. The children are not only seperated from their mother but end up being seperated from each other--all but Frances, the oldest, and Petey, the youngest. Frances promised her mother she would look out for Petey. Follow "Frankie's" adventures as Frances masquerades as a boy to keep that promise and finally understands how splitting up the family was really her mother's act of love.
