Marilyn Irvin Holt relates the story of the many orphan children who were shipped out West on the Orphan Trains. It also mentions that Ellis County, Kansas was the destination for many of these abandoned children.   248 pgs.  size 8 1/2 x 5 1/2

This book chronicles the travels of an orphan train child, Lee Nailling, who rode the train to Texas where he was adopted with his brother. Unfortunately, the family did not keep him and he was sent to another family. The book bounces between the story of Lee Nailling and the history of the orphan trains. It shows the positive and negative outcomes of the orphan train children.  It covers a great deal of history and does end with a happy reunion between Lee and his brother.

When loner Will Hunter hired on to drive a wagon load of people out of San Antonio, he wasn't expecting a dozen orphans, a New York Placing Agent, and the biggest tomboy in town, Amanda Jean Haywood, who knew more about horses than Will had ever dreamed. Forced by the Agent's untimely death to head up the Orphan Train, not only does Will run into the expected late winter blizzards, floods, stampedes, thieves, and Comancheros, but he also, with Amanda's help, has to figure out how to handle the plagues of hornets, buffaloes, and snakes that the dozen children bring upon the wagons. By the end of the arduous trek, Will realizes that a loner is the unhappiest man in the world; that only by taking on the problems of those for whom you love and care, can a man truly be content. 

In September, 1904, five orphans are put on a train in New York City bound for Seguin, Texas, where they are to start new lives with new families. The four boys and one girl travel with two nuns. On arrival, after initial doubts of acceptance, the children are warmly received by the awaiting parents. Adjustment to their unaccustomed surroundings is pretty easy and quick. Life goes on as usual, with some mishaps including a wild chase by a bull and a mill fire. The writing is stilted and dull without any intrigue or feeling. The story progresses as a list of events. Characters are flat and one dimensional, and there is little to make readers interested in the book's outcome. Joan Lowery Nixon's ``The Orphan Train Quartet'' (Bantam) gives a better view of this part of America's history and is told with suspense, drama, and emotion.-Rita Soltan, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI