| Booktalk
#1
It's true. They take
you out west on a train and sell you as a slave. You end up on some
farm doing hard labor. At least that's what Rodzina has been told.
She's an orphan living in Chicago. The year is 1881 and there is
little hope for Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski. Her family
emigrated from Poland when she was a toddler but they are all dead now.
She lived on the streets until the authorities picked her up and sent her
to the orphanage. They didn't want her so now she finds herself on
a train heading west. Twenty one orphans and two adults ride in the
train car. The trip is long and hard. At the first stop, several
children are taken by locals but Rodzina does all she can to keep from
being selected. She has a plan. If she is as onery as she can
be, no one will want her and she'll have to be sent back to Chicago.
Will her plan work? Will the others find homes?
Booktalk #2
Rodzina is an orphan, living
in Chicago during the late 1800's. Like many homeless children of the time,
she is put on an “orphan train” and sent west to be adopted by some family
along the way. She isn't interested in being adopted by some farm family
and she certainly doesn't want to be a miner's wife. Rodzina is beginning
to wonder if there is any future for her in California. How will this strong-willed,
feisty girl ever fit in? This book’s many interesting characters will stay
with you long after you finish the book. (Jean B. Bellavance for
Pennsylvania
Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2004-2005)
Booktalk #3
She never
wanted to be an orphan---but what kid does?If twelve-year-old
Rodzina would have had any choice in the matter, she would have stayed
at the Little Wanderers’ Refuge, but they don’t keep orphan children permanently,
only until new homes can be found.So they sent her
and twenty-one other orphans on a special train traveling west from Chicago
in 1881.They were told that they were very fortunate
and lucky to have the opportunity.If they did what
they were told and smiled very sweetly, they should have a new home soon.
But
Rodzina knew better.Who out west would want scruffy
orphans from the streets of Chicago
anyway?Only someone who wanted to work them to death.Besides,
one of the boys on the street had told her that orphanages sell the orphans
to families that want slaves.Orphans come to no
good end.That’s what Rodzina had heard and she believed
every word.Besides, who would want her?She
was big for her age, mean, tough, and of Polish origin.And
what if nobody wanted her as the train stopped at towns throughout the
west?Would she have to ride back and forth on the
train, east to west and west to east, like some Eternal Traveler, giving
rise to the legend of Rodzina the Unwanted, and have her story told around
fireplaces, kitchen stoves, and campfires to scare little children?No,
Rodzina wanted nothing to do with this orphan train.She
doesn’t need a new family.All she really wants is
her old family back.But she knows that won’t happen
so she is determined to take care of herself.
Since
she is only twelve, Rodzina has little choice in the matter and finds herself
on an orphan train traveling west.Because she is
the oldest, she is quickly selected by their adult lady companion to be
in charge of several of the children. Rodzina begrudgingly accepts the
responsibility and thus begins her long, lonely journey westward.Will
she find a family to love her or will she became entrapped in an unwanted
life?Read the story of Rodzina by Karen Cushman.Oklahoma
Sequoyah Children’s Book Award nominee, 2005-2006
Booktalk
#4
As a young girl growing up
in Chicago, Rodzina Brodski is happy living with her mother, father and
two brothers. When her family members tragically die, twelve-year-old
Rodzina becomes an orphan. She finds herself on an orphan train heading
west where, she is sure; she will be sold for slavery. As her journey
west progresses, she attaches herself to other orphans on the train, as
well as a woman doctor overseeing the orphans. Keeping the other
children happy with stories from her childhood, funny jokes, and games,
Rodzina becomes a hero for some of them, including the woman doctor.
In the back of her mind, though, Rodzina wonders; will she ever get the
loving family that she once had? Set in 1881, Rodzina's humor and
real-life encounters will have you stepping into the story right along
side her. (Brittany Engle, ba-engle@wiu.edu, college student) |
