Aw, Give the Kid a Break!

Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is about a child riding the orphan trains in the late 1880s, abandonment, disappointment, and unrealistic expectations. Abandon all hope, y'all, before entering here. Marianne's mother abandoned her at an orphanage to go west, but promised to return. She never did. Marianne, and her younger friend, Nora, are being sent west now in an effort to unload the swamped orphanage of its extra weight. Marianne and Nora want to stay together, but most people who meet the trains want a. One Child and b. A Boy to Do Farm Work. Marianne's hopes to be met at one of the stops by her real mother and her continual rejections and disappointments drip from every page. The illustrations are okay - the trains are especially good, but the story is what is compelling.

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