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HISTORICAL FICTION AMERICA - ORPHAN TRAINS &
CALIFORNIAN GOLD RUSHES
ORPHAN TRAINS
Wagon Train West “Elizabeth, an Adventist Girl” (Kay D. Rizzo) $4 PB VGC When ten-year-old Elizabeth and her family continue their journey to California by joining a wagon train, her adventures include encounters with Indians, falling down a mountain, and surviving deserts and dust. 7-11 YO http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9mJJmXlfROgC&dq=Wagon+Train+West+%E2%80%9CElizabeth,+an+Adventist+Girl%E2%80%9D+(Kay+D.+Rizzo)&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Kayla O’Brian and the Dangerous Journey (Hilda Stahl) $2 PB VGC This exciting frontier-days adventure tells of two Irish youths who wanted nothing more than a happy, peaceful home. Instead, every corner they turned seemed to bring them into even greater intrigue and danger. 8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/Kayla-OBrian-Dangerous-Journey-Adventure/dp/0891075771/ref=pd_sim_b_2
Kayla O’Brian Trouble at Bitter Creek Ranch (Hilda Stahl) $2 PB VGC Kayla and her little brother Timothy must sometimes rely on their faith in Jesus when they are shipped west on an orphan train and go to live with the Larsen family on their ranch. 8-12 YO http://www.paperbackswap.com/Kayla-OBrian-Trouble-Hilda-Stahl/book/0891076115/
The Orphan’s Journey “Whistle-Stop West” (Arleta Richardson – author of ‘In Grandma’s Attic’, Sonlight title) $3 PB VGC (Ex lib) In the early 1900s countless orphans rode the Orphan Train West in search of new homes and new lives. This series is based on the true story of Ethan Cooper. In 1908 eight-year-old Ethan and his three younger siblings ride an Orphan Train into Nebraska, where they hope with God's help to start a new life on a farm. Throughout the series, the children learn to trust God to help them with unexpected surprises. 9-13 YO http://www.alibris.co.uk/search/books/isbn/0781409225
The Orphan Train Adventures “Caught In The Act” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB EC (Ex lib) Chronicles the adventures of six Irish-American siblings who have been sent from the slums of New York City to new homes on the Frontier in the years just prior to the Civil War. The focus here is on 11-year-old Mike Kelley, who is placed with a German immigrant farmer more interested in acquiring cheap labour than a new family member. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Caught-Act-Orphan-Train-Adventures/dp/0440226783#noop
The Orphan Train Adventures “A Place To Belong” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB EC (Ex lib) Follows the story of the six Kelly children, whose widowed mother has sent them west from New York City in 1856 because she realizes she cannot give them the life they deserve. Danny and his younger sister Peg feel lucky to be adopted by kind Alfrid and Olga Swenson in St. Joseph, Missouri. But when Olga dies suddenly, the children fear they will lose their wonderful new family, so ten-year-old Danny plots to get his foster father to send for and marry his mother. 10+ http://www.amazon.com/Place-Belong-Orphan-Train-Adventures/dp/0440226961
The Orphan Train Adventures “A Family Apart” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB GC (Ex lib) When their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860. 10+ http://www.librarything.com/work/435459
Orphan Train Children “Lucy’s Wish” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB VGC (Ex lib) Ten-year-old Lucy Griggs's mother has just died, leaving Lucy orphaned and living on the streets of 1866 New York City. Then Lucy hears about the Children's Aid Society, a group that sends orphans out West to new homes. Lucy knows she'll never replace her mum, but maybe now she'll find a family--and even a little sister--to love. But the family that takes her in is far from ideal. Mr. Snapes seems kind, but Mrs. Snapes is a bitter, angry woman. And Emma isn't the sister Lucy has dreamed of. Emma is a girl who people call "simple." Can Lucy learn to love this less-than-perfect family? 8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/Lucys-Wish-Orphan-Train-Children/dp/0440413060#reader_0440413060
Orphan Train Children “David’s Search” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB VGC (Ex lib) David Howard has been living on the streets of New York City so long he can barely remember his parents. Through the Children's Aid Society, he finds a new home with the Bauer family in Missouri. But farm life isn't easy, especially for a boy who's never seen a cow before. Luckily, the Bauers' hired hand, Amos, an ex-slave, comes to David's rescue. When an unexpected danger threatens Amos, David wants to help his friend. But how can an 11-year-old boy help a grown man? 8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/044041315X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Orphan Train Children “Aggie’s Home” (Joan Lowery Nixon) $3 PB VGC (Ex lib) Twelve-year-old, Agatha "Aggie" Vaughn, who was abandoned as an infant, is an unhappy resident of the Asylum for Homeless Waifs in New York City. Despite being told that no one will ever want her, Aggie dreams that one day her mother will come to reclaim her. Then she is sent west on an orphan train and adopted by the eccentric Bradon family. Although she initially misunderstands some of the subtleties of family life, she comes to love and appreciate her unusual new family. Nixon's research into this subject is evident, with the inclusion of maps, handbills, period photos, and explanations of the orphan trains and the woman's suffrage movement. 8-12 YO http://www.amazon.com/Aggies-Home-Orphan-Train-Children/dp/0440413125/ref=pd_sim_b_2#reader_0440413125
The Journey Home (Isabelle Holland) $2 PB EC After their mother dies, Maggie Lavin, 12, and her younger sister, Annie, leave the slums of New York City on one of the orphan wagon trains that delivered thousands of tenement youngsters to adoptive homes during the second half of the 19th century. Taken in by a childless couple, they begin a new life on the Kansas prairie, far different from all that they have known. 9+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/isabelle-holland/journey-home.htm
Orphan Train West “Laurel” (Jane Peart) $3 PB EC Between 1854 and 1904, nearly one hundred thousand orphans were transported by train across America to new homes in the Midwest. Based on the courageous children who experienced this historic event, this series follows the lives of several girls who ride the train in search of fresh beginnings and loving families. After her mother dies, shy, sensitive Laurel is adopted by a loving couple. As she grows up, though, Laurel longs to discover her true identity, and her search reveals secrets from her past. Will Laurel's new life come between her and the love she desires? 11+ A Christian title. http://www.amazon.com/Laurel-Orphan-Train-West-Book/dp/0800757130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196653973&sr=1-1
Orphan Train West “Toddy” (Jane Peart) $2 PB EC Between 1854 and 1904, nearly one hundred thousand orphans were transported by train across America to new homes in the Midwest. Based on the courageous children who experienced this historic event, this series follows the lives of several girls who ride the train in search of fresh beginnings and loving families. Abandoned by her actress mother, exuberant Toddy is taken in by a wealthy family to befriend an invalid child. Before long, Toddy wins the family's hearts with her optimism and zest for life. Yet happiness eludes her. Is Toddy's yearning for a home only a dream? 11+ A Christian title. http://www.amazon.com/Toddy-Orphan-Train-West-Book/dp/0800757165
Homeward The Seeking Heart (Jane Peart) $3 PB VGC In spring 1890, three eight-year-old girls leave overcrowded, bleak Greystone Orphanage near Boston and set out together on the "Orphan Train" heading west to adoptive homes. 10+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/jane-peart/homeward-seeking-heart.htm
THE CALIFORNIAN GOLD RUSHES
The Ballad Of Lucy Whipple (Karen Cushman – author of The Midwife’s Apprentice) $5 PB EC When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colourful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books, Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, which won Newbery Honor status and a Newbery Medal respectively. 9+ Recommended! http://www.amazon.com/The-Ballad-of-Lucy-Whipple/dp/1402549628/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196578558&sr=1-2
Against all Odds: The Lucy Scott Mitchum Story (Barbara Riefe) $4 HBDJ VGC (Ex lib) Tempted by the promise of the unlimited riches of the California goldfields, Lucy Scott Mitchum, her husband, and their family undertake a perilous two-thousand-mile journey across prairies and mountains. 12+ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/barbara-riefe/against-all-odds.htm
Rope Around The Wind (Nora Rock) $3 HB GC (Ex lib, front endpaper removed) Set in the days of the Nevada Gold Rush this is the story of 10 year old Jamie’s friendship with an old miner, Dutch Gessel, who has been cheated out of his share of gold mining profits by his partner. An exciting and brilliantly evocative picture of the harsh life of gold prospectors. 10+ http://childrensbookshop.com/catalogue.php?cno=76367
The Extraordinary Adventures Of Chee Chee McNerney (Evelyn C. Nevin) $2 PB GC (Light tanning) After her grandmother dies, a fourteen-year-old girl travels to the Alaskan goldfields with two unusual and strange companions, one of whom claims to be her uncle. 9+ http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Adventures-Chee-McNerney/dp/B000GNTIHM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200637662&sr=1-7
White Jade Tiger (Julie Lawson) $4 PB EC Jasmine is not sure she likes the idea of being stuck in Victoria, Canada, while her father goes to China for a year. But on a field trip to Chinatown, she explores a curious shop in Fan Tan Alley and accidentally passes through a hidden door. She finds herself in Victoria's Chinatown of the late 1880's. Mistaken for a Chinese boy, she is soon caught up in a race through the Fraser Canyon to find she is swept up in the mystery of the white jade tiger. 10+ http://www.amazon.ca/White-Jade-Tiger-Julie-Lawson/dp/0888783329
The Immigrants’ Chronicles “The Journey Of Yung Lee” (Judith McCoy-Miller) $5 PB VGC All twelve-year-old Yung Lee's family, except her brother Yung Fong, had been killed in a rebellion in her native province. Times are hard in China, and Fong is convinced that the only way to better their lives is to search for gold in California. Lee does not want to leave China. She is happy living with the Conroys, missionaries who have taught her about Jesus Christ. But Fong insists that their little family must stay together. If he goes, she must go too. In California Fong learns that finding gold is not so easy. And while Fong must worry about money, Lee must endure the cruel teasing of the class bully, Howard. Can Lee turn Howard's prejudice into friendship? And when the Yung's money and gold are stolen, how will they live? Lee finds that showing God's love and kindness to our enemies can turn them into friends. 9+ http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Yung-Lee-Immigrants-Chronicles/dp/0781432855
(Last update February, 2011)