| Booktalk
#1
Everyone says I should be grateful.
Grateful that I didn't die in the fire that took my brother, George, my
mother and my father away from me. Grateful that the orphanage took
me in. Grateful to Mr. Bell for taking me to Nebraska with the other
orphans to find new families. I suppose I should be grateful to Henry
Jansen for taking me into his home, even if he did only want me to help
take care of his sickly wife. I almost felt grateful when Mr. Jansen
took me to town to get some new dresses. I looked at dresses of all
colors while Mr. Jansen talked to the shopkeeper. "I imagined myself
in a pale blue one with a low waist and tiny pearl buttons up the front.:
Then Mr. Jansen turned to me and said, ' ... better move along if we're
going to be getting you some clothes. They've got a box over at the
church. We ought to be able to find you something there.' The
charity box. I should have known. Why would he buy me a pale
blue dress with pearl buttons? I wasn't his daughter, after all.
I was only an orphan."
To find out if Hattie ever
finds something to be grateful for, read GRATEFULLY YOURS by Jane Buchanan.
(New Hampshire Great Stone Face Committee)
Booktalk #2
When Hattie's family are all
killed in a tenement fire in New York, she is sent West on an "Orphan Train"
to find a new home. She is placed with a couple in Nebraska. Henry and
Elizabeth are not unkind but they are certainly not welcoming Hattie with
open arms. She believes that she is there more as a servant than a child.
Henry is distant and Elizabeth is grieving over the loss of her children.
Hattie know she should be grateful for having a place to live but it's
hard. Can Hattie fit in? Will she be able to help Elizabeth come to terms
with the loss of her children? Read GRATEFULLY YOURS to find out. |
