ASK Author: A Faraway Home: An Orphan Train Story by Janie Panagopoulos
This heartfelt story begins on the streets of New York City in 1854 where thousands of homeless children, immigrants and natives are fighting to survive "just one more day". Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Children's Aid Society, made a plan to rescue the children by getting them out of the city to loving rural homes in America's growing Midwest. The first location to accept these homeless children is Dowagiac, Michigan, a railroad whistle-stop on the track-line to Chicago. You will experience the hope, fear and excitement as you travel with Jack, Sarah, little George and 42 other orphans on their way to new faraway homes and better lives. Traveling by train across New York state, crossing Lake Erie by steamship and then on to Detroit to board another train, these children cling to one another for safety and survival trying hard to keep themselves together and clean in their filthy flea-ridden travel conditions.
Grade Level: 4-5
This Program is Offered By:
Students Will Interview:
Author Janie Panagopoulos
Resources: