The Author S Guide To Orphan Train Rider One Boy S True Story And We Rode The Orphan Trains

Discusses the placement of over 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children in homes throughout the Midwest from 1854 to 1929 by recounting the story of one boy and his brothers.

They were "throwaway" kids, living on the streets or in orphanages and foster homes. Then Charles Loring Brace, a young minister in New York City, started the Children's Aid Society and devised a plan to give these homeless waifs a chance at finding families they could call their own. Thus began an extraordinary migration of American children. Between 1854 and 1929, an estimated 200,000 children ventured forth on a journey of hope. Here, in the sequel to Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story, Andrea Warren introduces nine men and women who rode the trains and helped make history so many years ago.

An updated compilation which offers criteria for selecting good read-alouds, indexing over 1,700 books for children by author/illustrator, title, and a wide range of subjects; it includes strategies for book selection, recommendations for struggling readers, and annotations with related titles.

It seems incomprehensible that there was a time in America s not-so-distant past that nearly 200,000 children could be loaded on trains in large cities on our East Coast, sent to the rural Midwest, and presented for the picking to anyone who expressed an interest in them. That's exactly what happened between the years 1854 and 1929. The primitive social experiment became known as placing out, and had its origins in a New York City organization founded by Charles Loring Brace called the Children's Aid Society. The Society gathered up orphans, half-orphans, and abandoned children from streets and orphanages, and placed them on what are now referred to as Orphan Trains. It was Brace s belief that there was always room for one more at a farmer s table. The stories of the individual children involved in this great migration of little emigrants have nearly all been lost in the attic of American history. In this book, the author tells the true story of his paternal grandmother, the late Emily (Reese) Kidder, who, at the tender age of thirteen, became one of the aforementioned children who rode an Orphan Train. In 1906, Emily was plucked from the Elizabeth Home for Girls, which was operated by the Children's Aid Society, and placed on a train, along with eight other children, bound for Hopkinton, Iowa. Emily s journey, as it turned out, was only just beginning. Life had many lessons in store for her - lessons that would involve perseverance, overcoming adversity, finding lasting love, and suffering great loss. Emily's story is told through the use of primary material, oral history, interviews, and historical photographs. It is a tribute to the human spirit of an extraordinary young girl who became a woman - a woman to whom the heartfelt phrase "there's no place like home," had a very profound meaning.

Discover the true story of seven orphans who were settled with families in the Midwest by the Children's Aid Society.

Riders on the Orphan Train is an historical novel about a little-known piece of American history. Between 1854 and 1929, over 250,000 orphans and "surrendered" children were "placed out" across the country. They started their journey in New York and were given away in train stations across the country. The novel is the story of the journey of two children from very different backgrounds who find themselves on the same train heading West in 1918. Ezra Duval, age 11, was left in an orphanage. Ezra's father, a widower, left his son behind for an opportunity to be a part of an archaeological expedition in Egypt. Maud Farrell, age 12, arrives in America from the west of Ireland to join her father, a "sand hog" excavating the subway, and discovers she must make her own way as a singing girl on the streets. Both Ezra and Maud are scheduled to be sent out on a train to find new homes in the West by the Children's Aid Society. Their brief friendship makes a life-long impression on them both and though they are initially taken by people in different states, (Arkansas and Texas), their experiences, like separated twins, run uncannily parallel.This is a story of dislocation, loss, and the search for home that is at the heart of the American experience. Beginning on the eve of America's entry into World War I and spanning the period of time until the Great Depression, these children encounter and learn from people also looking for a way to belong in a rapidly-changing world. The novel's locations include New York City, Arkansas, the Big Bend region of Texas, central New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. The novel began with a short story that is at the heart of a multi-media presentation called Riders on the Orphan Train that the author has been performing in libraries and museums since 1998. The program was originally developed for the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. in Springdale, Arkansas, and now serves as the official touring outreach program for The National Orphan Train Complex Museum and Research Center in Concordia, Kansas. Author Statement:I left the tenure track of a major creative writing program in 1998 to become an itinerant performer and have never regretted the decision. Reaching the public initially with my short story about the Orphan Trains has been extremely rewarding; finding a way to have my work serve a larger purpose has become a story my own imagination could not have created on its own. The short story continued to grow until it became a novel. I chose fiction as a means for exploring the emotional truths often left out of historical facts. For me, the completion of this novel is the culmination of fourteen years of writing and research while touring and getting to know many Orphan Train Riders by participating in national reunions. Their experiences are woven through the novel. It is my hope that the stories of the children who road the trains will live on through this novel for generations to come.

"These stories are wonderful, believable and historically consistent with many of the true stories. They brought a tear, goosebumps and the chills." - C. Warren Moses, retired Children's Aid Society CEO and Archivist Charles, William and Joanna all find themselves alone and in need of help. Thanks to the Children's Aid Society and the orphan trains they are given a second chance at a happy ending. In each of the three historical fiction stories in this collection, readers meet an orphan train rider and follow them on their journey. Can Charles find a new home before Christmas? Will Joanna ever find a place where she belongs? Can Irish William find a way to fit in America?