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The Orphan Of Ellis Island
The Orphan Of Ellis Island
Author: Elvira Woodruff
Grade 4-6. Dominic Cantori has spent most of his life in foster care. When a guide asks Dominic's fifth-grade class to talk about their families during a field trip to Ellis Island, the boy is embarrassed because he has no heritage to discuss, and hides in a storage closet where he promptly falls asleep. Waking after the museum is closed, he pan...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780590482462
ISBN-10: 0590482467
Publication Date: 8/1/2000
Pages: 192
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 19

3.9 stars, based on 19 ratings
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Orphan Of Ellis Island on
Helpful Score: 1
Nice historical fiction book about immigration.
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reviewed The Orphan Of Ellis Island on + 89 more book reviews
Cute story about Ellis Island and one families history.
reviewed The Orphan Of Ellis Island on + 47 more book reviews
This was a good interesting read(another YA book I read too!)

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6. Dominic Cantori has spent most of his life in foster care. When a guide asks Dominic's fifth-grade class to talk about their families during a field trip to Ellis Island, the boy is embarrassed because he has no heritage to discuss, and hides in a storage closet where he promptly falls asleep. Waking after the museum is closed, he panics until the prerecorded voice of one of the exhibits soothes him back to sleep. When he wakes again, he finds himself in Italy in 1908. He is befriended by three orphan brothers who are waiting for sponsors to pay their passage to America. Dominic becomes part of their adventures and gains a new sense of family. When one of the brothers dies tragically, Dominic accompanies the other two to America and discovers that the boys may actually be related to him in more than just spirit. He arrives on Ellis Island, first as a new immigrant, and finally as a boy returning from a long journey, or perhaps a dream, that has given him a new sense of himself as well as hope for his future. Easy to read and hard to put down, this convincing novel gives a poignant and believable picture of the lives and motivations of some of this country's immigrants, and of one boy who learns about himself. While the time-travel element and subsequent plot twists occur almost too easily, the characters and situations are too involving to quibble about story construction. An enjoyable and informative tale.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA


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