orphan train girl

By Christina Baker Kline

Can you guess what is the orphan train? It existed from 1854 to 1929 in America which carried the orphans from the coastal cities of the eastern US to the Midwest. At the train stops, families in need of the labour checked these orphans' body conditions to see if they could work for them. With the marginal luck, a handful children were sent to the fair family but the rest of them had to tolerate the excruciating labour without being paid at all. Topping it all off, they were even abused, ending in run-away to the street life.

This "orphan train girl" is about Vivian who was on the orphan train. In 2011, she met Molly who is an orphan and living in a foster family. Vivian has never dreamed she can talk about her predicament as an orphan until she meets Molly. I think that from each other, they felt something in common like the sense of loss aroused over the course of shifting from one family to another.

I like learning the exasperation of the orphans on the train and the struggles of Molly who seemed afraid of being kicked off again from the current foster family. It's not because I feel relieved by my present fortune contrast to their cruel destinies but because I could have time to think that why I need to be grateful when even Molly who was fostered could learn the gratitude about her life from Vivian's life.

Hope you can also find the lesson of your own from the book.