Train to Somewhere book review by Ella

Title of the Book: Train to Somewhere 

Author Name: Eve Bunting 

Reviewer's Name: Ella 

Publisher: Clarion Books 

Date of Publication: 1996 

Rating: 1-5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The story is based on the true fact of homeless children being sent by train to small towns to find homes from the mid-1850s to the late 1920s. The story begins with a group of orphans standing in a station waiting to enter the train in New York. With St. Christopher's orphanage in New York too full to keep all the children, the kids including Marianne are sent to the small towns to find a home, the last stop being Somewhere. Miss Randolph, the kind caregiver, has the task of finding the children people to live with, handling the adoption papers, escorting the children on the train, and adopting them out in the towns they visit. Marianne, who is looking to find her mother after her mother said she would return for her, is close to another orphan, Nora. Nora is a five-year-old girl with a sweet personality who hopes she will get adopted with Marianne as sisters even though they are not related. 

The book continues to give the reader a sad and hopeful feeling of what will happen next. The story is based on fact, it allows the reader to connect to the past and feel how the children could have been feeling. With Marianne's deep emotions, the reader can not help but feel concern and closeness not only to her but to the children who are going through the same situation as her. The reader can only wonder how the other children are feeling, some of which is revealed throughout the text. The main message readers can get from the text stated as words by the character Mrs. Book is “Sometimes what you get turns out to be better than what you wanted in the first place” (Bunting 30). The quote reveals though you might want and not get something, what you do get could be greater than what you had imagined.