Orphan Trains: An Interactive History Adventure

by Elizabeth Raum

In the early 1900s, adults hoped to find parents for homeless city children by sending them west on trains. Most of these children had no idea whether they would find kind adoptive families or be forced to work like slaves. Will • Head west after living on the streets of New York City? • Search for a home for you and your three younger siblings? • Try to care for yourself and your baby sister on your own?

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Historical

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2011

About the author

As a child, I loved writing reports. For me, doing research has always been a kind of treasure hunt. My treasures are the facts that create pictures of past worlds and faraway places. I've put those facts into nearly 100 biographies, histories, and science books for young readers. I've also written two picture books and several interactive adventures that place you, the reader, inside the story. I hope that all my books lead you to imagine yourself in some intriguing place among fascinating people. Every book should take readers on new adventures in this big, beautiful world of ours.

Happy travels!

Author website: www.elizabethraumbooks.com

Reviews

[Megan Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

My nana gave me this book to read as she loves learning about the orphan train. I believe one of my ancestors was on the train that made it to Louisiana. This book is great for older kids that can handle the darker aspects of history. It also makes learning history fun by having a choose your own adventure layout. My only complaint is that the first two stories have more “bad” endings than the last one. I’m not sure if it’s because the first two stories have a male protagonist or if the author couldn’t make more “bad” endings for the last/female protagonist.

[sleeps9hours · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really depressing, I’m glad only my oldest daughter read this one. Somehow the books on war (Revolutionary War, WWII, Boston Massacre) seem more appropriate because the kids feel like the good guys win in the end and there is a lot of broad history to learn.

In this book, while it is fascinating to learn about this little-known piece of history, it felt like too big of an emotional toll in exchange for learning about such a small slice of history (“Hey kids, did you know that 100 years ago there were so many poor kids in New York City whose parents couldn't take care of them that they and their siblings were separated and sent out west to work on farms and be abused and sometimes die? Well, it happened in real life.”)

There are some happy endings of good families and children who went on to be successful and even adopt their own orphans, but it’s a grim read overall. I’m not a very overprotective parent (my 10-year-old read the Hunger Games series), but you might want to preview first.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, now. Where to begin? While the idea of this book is fun - choose your own adventure, these adventures weren't that fun. So I was beaten by my father, my sister died of a fever, my mother died, I was homeless, I was overworked as a farmhand, and my baby sister was lost forever in the system. I actually liked this book and had a sense of humor the whole time. The poor people who sit near me while I am reading this book, "Crap! The baby just died! Let's start over."

So in conclusion, I need to get my hands on another book in the series... Salem Witch Trials choose your own adventure. 😬 Can't wait to burn at the stake.

[Tiffany Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I read this interactive book together and I appreciateed the ample opportunities for lessons in empathy, history, grievance and compassion. Having the ability to choose a path of each child’s orphan train experience intrigued her and of course, she chose to read further as to discover the other outcomes. The ability for autonomy and choosing one’s path was also a teaching lesson for me and leaving lesson for her, as children should be able at times to choose their own direction and live with those choices made. Well done and I hope to find more books such as these.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect way to teach kids history, by putting them into the story.

[Kiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating window into history I did not know about. I always like choose-you-own-adventure books as a kid and probably would have enjoyed this one too. Many of the endings are positive, but there are some grim and dark ones, too. The book portrays a very different approach to parenting and childhood that the social environment and expectations we have today.

It blows my mind that 200,000 children were transported from East Coast cities and distributed out into other states. Some were orphans, and others were children whose parents were unable to support them, while others might not have fallen into either category; it seems that records were not always well kept. I was also intrigued to learn that many (most?) of these children were never adopted by their placement families, although they often took on the family name. This must make tracing genealogy extra challenging for their descendants.

This book immerses you in several different possible scenarios that these children experienced, and I'm sure there are many more true stories that would be equally amazing.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good and touching, it explains the fear that they would have went through departing with family and friends. 😢
So good and so touching!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting and eye-opening. I thought I knew a little bit about the orphan trains, but "living" it was very different than I expected.

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical choose your own adventure books are a pretty good idea. A variety of experiences packed into all the choices.

[Rll52013_andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great idea for a book!!

I was so impressed when I saw this new type of book, a Choose Your Own Adventure book in the history realm. What makes this idea of applying this format to history so great is that it makes crystal clear for students that history didn't just happen to the people of the past; history was made by very real people with very real perspectives that helped them form their very real choices that led to a very real new set of consequences and choices....History becomes for kids no longer a linear, chronological set of events, but a complex web of overlapping causes and effects!... all because of the set-up of this book, the posing of options to the reader.

What's more, the reader gets to actually put herself in the historic characters' shoes and make decisions both (1) for herself as she would do as a unique, individual person reading this book and, (2) at the same time, as a person from the past, trying on this new burgeoning chronologically embedded culture. It is really an amazing way to experience history.... Like a true simulation, a virtual reality book!!

This new book format/genre merging makes me think of all the excellent mergings of form and function!. The form of these books suits a very important and deep function for students, to teach them what the study of history really means!

I want to read them all!

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this adaptation of the choose your own adventure format was actually really really good. It presents the history of the orphan trains that ran from 1854 to 1929 in this interactive format that also helps display the multiplicity of history rather than the singular story that is usually told in historical fiction novels or that overly generic tale in textbooks. The presentation of information is clear and nicely done, beginning with a factual introduction before letting the reader choose one of three paths to follow and concluding with another historical note. The possible endings stick to realism without overly focusing on or ignoring the worst possibilities and the ideal outcomes. The back matter is also excellent, including a timeline, glossary, bibliography, index, reading recommendations, and more ideas on different perspectives. This little volume really packs a lot in and it's representative of the rest of the You Choose Books, I would recommend them hands down.

[Apzmarshl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a choose your own adventure in which you end up crying at most of the choices.
This is a great interactive book about a very interesting part of American history. I think it's a fun way for kids to learn. I personally didn't like the format because I really wanted to just read the story.
Orphan trains ran in the late 1800's until the great depression. Orphaned children were put on trains from New York, headed for the mid west. There, they hoped to find families to care for them.
I wanted to meet those orphan trains at every stop and take the poor kiddos home with me.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the lover of Choose Your Own Adventure Books! You can select three story paths from history. And each story path can lead to different endings for the good or the sad. Reality isn't always rainbows and sunshine. True, the stories aren't real, but they are reality based. The book ends with facts, additional resources and a timeline.

This title was a great follow up to A Hope Undaunted (Winds of Change #1)
by Julie Lessman.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a nice story for kids to read about the orphan trains. I did not like the way the book gave you choices with different story lines and different endings. If you followed the directions you would skip all over the book to read it. I would have rather had individual different stories.

[Amanda Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting way to read history. You get to pretend to make choices and see what happened with each choice. I learned a lot about the orphan trains and what happened to unwanted children. This would be a good book to accompany reading Moon Over Manifest by Vanderpool or Orphan Train by Kline to gain more facts about the time period.

[Gia Ruiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 8 year old had fun with this book. It provided an abbreviated way for him to get a grasp on this slice of history. Also, it helped provide the context for newsies.

[Mr. George The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable interactive reading. Plus, it is a unique history than many adults do not know.

[Emily Peter]

This is a book about the orphan trains from New York in the 19th century. It is also a choose your own adventure type of book so kids can go through multiple stories and see multiple view points. It is very informative and filled with facts.

1. Why were there so many orphans in New York in the mid to late 1800's?
2. Why did most people only adopt younger children?
3. What did you choose for your first path? why?
4. What was your second choice? Why?
5. Now, go through the story again and make different choices. How did your story end differently?

Raum, E. (2011). Orphan trains: an interactive history adventure. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press.