Orphan Train

Orphan Train

• Genre: Fiction; historical
• Originally Published: 2013
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 890L; grades 9-12; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 7 parts; approximately 278 pages; approximately 8 hours, 21 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The novel alternates between two characters: Molly, a present-day child in foster care in Maine, and Niamh (later Vivian), an Irish immigrant sent to the Midwest on an “orphan train” in the late 1920s. Their stories converge when Molly is assigned community service to help Vivian sort through her belongings, uncovering Vivian's past.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Child abandonment; death of family members; sexual assault; abuse; poverty; adoption and foster care issues

Christina Baker Kline, Author

• Bio: Born 1964; American author of both adult and young adult literature; graduated from Yale, Cambridge, and the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow in Fiction; work often focuses on the ways in which memory, love, and identity shape our lives
• Other Works: The Way Life Should Be (2007); Bird in Hand (2009); A Piece of the World (2017)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• Portaging
• Ghosts Haunt the Present

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Guide, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical, societal, and social contexts around the orphan trains and modern-day foster care system that shape the lives of Molly and Vivian.