Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Well I read a lot of historical fiction during the school year and I complained! Now here I am reading it by choice! This book was fabulous! I had to put it down periodically because I really wanted to punch characters. I just plain needed a break. I used to read a story in a language arts book to my 4th graders about the Orphan Train. I became very intrigued about this topic. I did some research and learned a little more about it but this book helped a ton. Knowing the amount of research the author did herself about personal accounts of children on the Orphan Train made it worth while to read. I felt all sorts of emotions: sadness, anger, helplessness, confusion, surprise and utter disbelief. This is my first read of the summer and I am worried I won't find another book to measure up to this one. The plot she weaves in this book was awesome and I never felt like I was reading historical fiction. The story structure is written in now and then. You read about the present then you read about the past. It is a wonderful story. You will fall in love with the two main characters. At least I did. This is an edited version of the book. Evidently in the first edition there was an unanswered question that all readers had. It dealt with a decision that had to be made. The author assumed everyone would understand why that decision was made if you really got to know her character. Well... she got so many emails asking about it, when she had the opportunity to rework the story she took it. She added a scene into the book to explain more and answer the question everyone had. I think I picked out just exactly what scene she is talking about. I highly recommend this book to anyone! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book! It never was slow or dull!

Warning: It is historical fiction so has some truth to it. It deals with adoption, abuse, and loss of family and children.

Rating: I would give this a 4.5 on scale of 1-5