by Moe Zilla

Created on: February 26, 2010

Eve Bunting was nearly 70 when she wrote "Train to Somewhere" - and an introduction explains the true history behind the story. "From the mid-1850s till the late 1920s, an estimated 100,000 homeless children were sent by train from New York City to small towns and farms in the Midwest." The book's acknowledgments include a thank-you to a staffer at the Orphan Train Riders Research Center - and a woman who rode the Orphan Train herself when she was two years old. "This is the story of fourteen orphan children, going West, dreaming of a better life."

The year is 1878, and the children begin their journey. "We put on a special coach for you at the back..." says the conductor of the Orphan Train. "My you look nice," he compliments one well-dressed child at the station. The train's windows are dirty and the seats are hard. One little girl worries she's not pretty enough to be adopted...

They pass freight yards and tenements, as Bunting fills her story with specifics about their passage through America. They see warehouses, washing strung between apartments, and fruit orchards in the countryside. The little girl sees an apple tree for the very first time. And the train's wheels mumble all night long.  "Clickety-clack, clickety-clee, I'm coming, Mama. Wait for me."

They change trains in Chicago...

The illustrations are realistic watercolors, which bring a bright softness to the story's heavy drama. When the train arrives in the llinois, there's a crowd waiting at the station. Ronald Himler draws the grown-ups waiting expectantly, but hides a message in the way they're posed. The grown-ups standing stoicly, in dark suits or frumpy dresses. It's an intimidating sight to the orphans.

"There are horses and wagons and dogs barking..."

Their chaperone whispers a reminder to the children - to smile and "look pleasant" - and it's the first of many anxious stops. The girl's best friend cries as they're separated forever. She rememebers the day her mother left her on the steps of the orphange. And now there's nine children left as the orphan train heads west.

The chaperone cries as she chokes out that "a lot of you will do fine," sharing both her hopes and fears for the children. At the top of many pages, Himler contributes a new watercolor of the travelling train. But the author also invented a name for the train's last stop - a town called Somewhere. An elderly woman sees that there's only one girl left, and "Somehow this woman understands about me, how it felt that nobody wanted me... Somehow she understands the hurt."

"Will you come with us?" the woman asks...

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