Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent Historical Fiction Book!
Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2014
I love this historical fiction story! The story is about Marianne, a little girl who's mother dropped her off at an orphanage and promised to come back and get her. Marianne and 14 other kids board the train and hope to find their family or someone to adopt them at all the stops. You feel sad for Marianne's situation and also feel as you are reading the story and her mother isn't at each stop, a sense of nervousness, hoping that her mother will show up or that someone will adopt her.
True that this is a story with sad elements, but it's a great way to showcase to children that there are many children who are less fortunate than them and that there are children who don't have families like they do. It's a great reality check for kids. Sadly, these orphan trains were reality many years ago and the author does a fantastic job of bringing this concept to the modern age of children and making it understandable. Be prepared for some tough questions from kids as they try to understand how this could happen to other kids. The book is very well written and the illustrations capture that time period so well. The concept is more suited to older children between the ages of 8 and 12.
