We Road The Orphan Trains
Because of the success of Orphan Train Rider, publishers were open to my ideas for books on other subjects. But I felt the need to spend more time with this one. The riders were aging and I knew that we were losing eye-witnesses to an important chapter of American history.
I proposed a second book based on the stories of eight riders whose combined experiences gave an excellent overview of what it was like to be an orphan train rider.
Many children rode the trains as infants or toddlers and had little or no memory of what happened to them, so my subjects were older and could offer rich, often haunting details.
In this book I also included the story of one of the Children’s Aid Society agents who escorted the children west. Agents rarely appeared in the histories, yet they gave years of their lives to this demanding work. I focused on Clara Comstock, who made seventy-four trips west and remained devoted to “her” children the rest of her life.
It’s estimated that half of the train riders found loving homes, while others were exploited as workers, were abused, or ran away. But many of these riders expressed gratitude for escaping city streets and destitute orphanages, and they went on to lead productive lives.
Reviews
“The personal histories . . .are rich and compelling and so full of dramatic twists and turns that they could have been conceived by Charles Dickens.”
-- School Library Journal
“Moving accounts of love and acceptance, courage and resilience, success, even reunion. . .This is powerful nonfiction for classroom and personal reading.”
-- Booklist
“The anecdotes about these brave and lonely children will keep readers traveling on this train.”
-- Publishers Weekly
Awards
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Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies
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Booklist: Top Ten Biographies for 2001
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VOYA Nonfiction Honor Book for 2001
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Parents Choice Foundation Recommended Book
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PBS Teacher Source Recommended Book