New Arrival: Juv Nonfiction: Nettie and Nellie Crook: Orphan Train Sisters, by E. F. Abbot & Clint Hansen

Nettie and Nellie Crook, Orphan Train Sisters
E. F. Abbot (pseudonym for Susan Hill), illustrated by Clint Hansen
ISBN: 9781250068354
A "based on a true story" junior novelization of the experiences of a set of twins on the orphan trains.

This was a very sad and sobering story, and even more so when I read the coda at the end and realized how very true to actual events the narrative was.  Even more sobering is that this is a relatively happy story: the girls were allowed to stay together, and they were eventually matched up into a happy family in town, as opposed to being used as slave labor out in the wilds, or used for prostitution, or simply abused by their "adoptive" families.  I feel for the kids involved, but also for the charities involved - trying to figure out a better option than orphanages and workhouses (which were even more horrible) or them dying on the streets or getting picked up by organized crime and abused or prostituted in the cities.  Their solution was novel, and I'm sure for at least some of the kids and western families, worked out beautifully.  Unfortunately, for many others, it was simply a move to a very different kind of horrible life.

Sad read, but an important chapter in American history.

Gratefully Yours, Jane Buchanan

Gratefully Yours, Jane Buchanan. ISBN: 0374327750

Juv Orphan-Train-setting.

Hattie is sick of everyone telling her she should be "grateful" that she didn't die in the fire like the rest of her family, "grateful" that she's healthy enough to go on the Orphan Trains, "grateful" for the charity of the church poor-box for her clothes, and "grateful" that Henry and Elizabeth have taken her in, even though Elizabeth didn't even want a child after her own losses.

What Hattie is grateful for is that Emily, her roommate and friend from the orphanage has been placed in the same town (but with a shrew who treats her like a servant and even changes her name!) and that Cloud the cat offers unconditional love and doesn't think she's a sinner or a freak because she's an orphan (even though he's just a cat, and she's kept busy with chores and school).  

Over a slim 177 pages, Hattie settles in, Elizabeth thaws, Henry shows his mettle as a great father, and eventually, Hattie realizes that despite her righteous indignation over well-meaning people and their "grateful" admonishments, it is possible to be somewhat grateful, even after tragedies.

Spoiler Alert: The cat kicks it during the climax.  If I had read this as a child, I would have been devastated.