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Book Review of A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures Bk 1)

A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures Bk 1)
reviewed 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,