The Orphan Trains

by Alice K. Flanagan

Tells the story of how homeless children during the late 1800s and early 1900s were taken to new homes on trains which were known as orphan trains.

Genres: History

Library Binding

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Alice K. Flanagan has written books on many subjects. Exploring Parks with Ranger Dockett is just one of her books about jobs. Many children enjoy her books about birds. She has also written books telling about different Native American groups.

Reviews

[Lartemis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-fiction children's book used as a fast fact and photo finder for my research on the orphan trains circa 1900. I became interested in this topic while reading "The Chaperone." As a former elementary teacher, I find children's non-fiction to be a great quick source for learning even as an adult.

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a Historical Nonfiction book that tells about orphan trains that would carry homeless children to the midwest to be adopted by families there. This book outlines one of the solutions used by the United States government to combat child homelessness, while also showing that this is not a new issue, but one that has been around for hundreds of years. I feel that that is important, for realizing that this is not just a current issue, but one that has existed for such a long span of time, adds to the weight and importance of discussing it.

Given that this book is directly about children, and offers photos of events that happened very long ago, I feel that children will find it highly interesting. It uses age-appropriate language for children that are in grades 3-6, which is a good time to start discussing issues of this nature more in depth. The story attempts to outline a potential solution to a large problem that still exists in modern-day societies, and even though the orphan train program did get shut down, just discussing this potential solution could spark deep discussion in the classroom, and could prompt the children to come up with some ideas of their own.

The illustrations in the book are actually photographs taken of the children and the train that they rode on. I feel that the use of photographs instead of drawn illustrations is necessary for a work like this, as this work is meant to recount a historical moment, instead of merely telling a story of fiction. The pictures provided in the book not only show the children and the train, but they show the conditions that these children lived in. An illustration would not as accurately portray that as well as an actual photograph of real people living that life would.

The book was highly accurate and blunt when discussing the cultural considerations of the book. In the book, it was explicitly said that those who rode these trains were mainly white, as African American children were not wanted for adoption by the mainly white families in the midwest. I feel that the inclusion of this point in the story opens the door for a discussion on race and socioeconomic status. I also feel that that was important to include for it gives children a glimpse into the perspectives of people during that time, which is vital in giving a genuine representation of the lifestyle that these children lived in.

I feel that this book is fantastic for discussing some of the more serious and in depth aspects of poverty while opening the door for broader discussion.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topic was interesting, but the presentation/writing style lacked rhythm so the information didn't seem as interesting as it really is. Describing how 200,000 children and some adults were resettled out of large cities(principally NYC) between the 1850s and 1920s, to save them both physically and spiritually from the ravages of poverty is the essence of the book. The documentation of this effort is spotty, making the retelling challenging, but the overall message of the considerable effect this had on US society during that period is still clear. As with any undertaking of mass migration, outcomes ranged from successful to disastrous. One of the strongest parts of the book is actually the explanation of how the "placing out" efforts came to an end due to factors including the ultimate growth of population in the midwest to west, the growth of industry in cities, the changing views of childhood pushing education of all children, and the rise of social work as a distinct field of study and exercise. Challenging many of the myths of this placing out effort was also quite interesting in the book. One such myth was that all the children placed were orphans. I can imagine that tracing ancestry for descendants of placed out children would be challenging because it was not uncommon for the families, the children went to live with, to change their names entirely. While only 2 stars, it still was worth reading.