Author Visit

                                                                                       

When Christina Baker Kline, author of Orphan Train, visited James Caldwell High School, she talked to us about her family and the Children's Aid Society reunions, where she got to meet the last survivors of the orphan trains. From her talk, I learned that having red hair and an Irish heritage was the most difficult part of being a passenger on the orphan trains because of the stereotype that they were "short-tempered" and generally undesirable. She also told us that some readers made connections I'd never thought of before, like the connections to Jane Eyre and The Wizard of Oz. 

I think it's great to have the opportunity to communicate with authors and being able to ask them questions that cannot be answered through reading the book. I was genuinely impressed with the lengths she went through when it came to fact checking, and most of the story includes things that were common occurrences on the orphan trains.

It made sense to know that most people who were on the orphan trains didn't talk about their experiences because of the shame and embarrassment it brought them, which is why most people have no idea that these trains existed. Passengers also thought the train they were on was the only train, believing that they're the only ones going through this tough time, and it was best not to talk about it and be viewed differently. 

Overall I enjoyed being able to communicate with Christina about the novel, and it helped me gain more of an understanding about orphan trains and how hidden they are in history. The experience was a positive one and it was great to hear everyone's questions and Christina's answers. Though I may not have enjoyed the book itself very much, I respect the author greatly and wish the best for her in her writing career. 

Reaction to Orphan Train

For the past couple weeks, my class has been reading the novel Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. The book is about a goth high school orphan girl named Molly who steals a copy of Jane Eyre from the library and is sentenced to do 50 hours of community service. Her boyfriend Jack offers her a job with his mom cleaning out an old woman named Vivian's attic. Molly is very reluctant to do this but goes for it anyway. She gets an unexpected surprise when she finds out that Vivian was an orphan train rider back in 1929. The two find surprising similarities in each other in ways they didn't expect to. 

Personally, I'm iffy with this book. I really enjoyed the parts of the novel where Vivian told her story, as they were adventurous and exciting. Molly's parts of the book made me angry because, in comparison to Vivian, she has things so easy yet complains about everything. Things for Molly could be normal if she'd just go with the flow as opposed to fighting everything her foster parent's say and getting in trouble all the time. I feel that Molly tries too hard to be different and interesting to the point where it's annoying.Overall I felt as though Vivian had more to offer in the story as opposed to Molly, but I guess Molly's character was necessary for fitting Vivian into the story. 

Overall, if it hadn't been required for me to read Orphan Train, I probably wouldn't have read it to begin with. I feel as though if I hadn't read it, I wouldn't be missing out on anything. The history of the orphan trains were very interesting to read and I enjoyed it, however I did not enjoy the story itself. 

My Favorite Genre

My favorite genre is graphic novels because I love looking at the art while I read. I feel that, by looking at visuals while reading, it makes the reader feel more into the action of the story, rather than just reading the words of a normal novel. I feel that graphic novels supply character and fun to the story, taking the reader on a trip along with the characters. 

 My favorite author is Bryan Lee O'Malley, who wrote two of my favorite books: Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Seconds. I love these two books because the style of the art is very cartoon-y and cute, along with humor, romance, and everything in between. Scott Pilgrim vs The World is about a guy named Scott who meets a new girl--Ramona Flowers. They like each other a lot but there is a catch; Scott has to defeat Ramona's "Seven Evil Exes" to be able to date her. The book is written with a lot of video game  and pop culture references, which makes the story unique.

 Seconds is a story about a young chef named Katie, who wakes up in the middle of the night to find a strange girl sitting on her old dresser warning her about something. Katie knocks it off as a dream and continues about her life, until she finds a red-capped mushroom in her dresser with a notebook, in which she is told to write her mistakes, eat a mushroom, and go to bed and wake anew. As any of us would, Katie takes advantage of it (and goes overboard). What she didn't realize is that there are consequences.