At first, she closes her heart to the possibilities - but somehow, along the way, she starts to open up to the other children on the train, their gruff and enigmatic caretaker, and eventually the possibility of a new beginning. Big, tough, stubborn, and not especially pretty, she finds it hard to believe anyone would want to give her a loving home. Rodzina is sure she will be sold into slavery. Against her will, she finds herself packed onto one of the "orphan trains" that take children west to find new families. Rodzina Brodski, a Polish-born Chicago girl, had a happy, reasonably comfortable life with her parents and little brothers, until a series of accidents and illnesses left her orphaned and alone. Recommended for girls 9-12 - and I enjoyed it, too! This is my favorite kind of book - spunky characters, fun to read, and along the way I learn something!
The story of Rodzina, as she grows from grouchy and sad to a more hopeful and independent girl is one that evolves, as she faces two women who want her for her labor, and later, a man who wants her to replace his dying wife. In the early 1880s, westerners were mostly hard-scrabble ranchers, farmers and miners, who needed a hard worker with a strong back, not another mouth to feed.
Not every family wants a child to love and cuddle, however. Rodzina Brodski, a 12-year-old Polish orphan girl from Chicago, and two dozen other children were put on an orphan train headed west in the hope that they could be adopted by good families. How did I not know the history of the children's orphan trains in the United States? I found myself fascinated all the way through, not just with the events of this journey, but also with the delightful characters.
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