Customer Reviews

A Family Apart (Orphan Train, No 1)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has got to be one of my favorites. My fifth grade teacher read the whole series to us that year. the other books in the series are as followes- 1) A Family Apart, 2)Caught in the Act, 3) In the face of Danger, 4)A Place to Belong, 5) A Dangerous Promise, 6) Keeping Secrets, and 7)Circle of Love. There is also a series called the Orpan Train Children which is based on the book Circle of love. the books in that series are as follows 1)Lucy's Wish, 2)Wills Choice, 3)Aggie's Home, and 4)David's Search. I hope u enjoy all of these books as much as i have

My mom bought me the orphan train adventures series a long time ago, and I never really read them because I wasn't that much into reading. But now, after I read this book, I am reading all the stories in this series 30 minutes a day! This would really be a good book to read.

The story is about a 13 year old girl named Frances Mary Kelly who lives with her mom and her brothers and sisters named Megan, Mike, Danny, Peg and Petey. The family is very poor and the mother realizes that she cannot afford to keep all of them. So, to solve that problem she sends them on an orphan train to live in the west with more wealthy families. Each of the children gets separated into different families and the second part of the story tells how Frances and Petey get along with their new family. I thought that the story was very interesting and when I finished one chapter I was so curious that I had to read more than one. What I also liked about the book was that it was very easy to understand what is happening. I have read many other books including Harry Potter where there are so many things that are happening at once that it's just to hard to keep track of everything so that's another good point of the story.

The other books in this series include: Caught In the Act, In the Face Of Danger, A Place To Belong, A Dangerous Promise, Keeping Secrets and Circle Of Love. The other books tell you the stories of the other kids and I also recommend them.

This was one of the best books I have read so far and I am going to read the whole series!!!

This was really a great book. It had a interesting plot. It lagged only once when Frances,the oldest,did something for her job requering going on the streets. I thought it was page turrning when the children were being seperated. I liked the fact that the charicters were going through such in intence situation that i could never relate. I will warn you that I think the book "stops short". I wouldn't let that stop you from reading it. Infact I read it in the car dispite the fact it made me car sick. I recomened this to anyone who likes books on slavery or the west. I congradulate Joan Lowery Nixion on a job well done!

I just wanted to say that I used to read this series over and over again when I was in Middle and High School, I am now 21. I looked for it for a long time and I am so happy to have finaly found it again. I recommend you get this book and enjoy reading it and the whole series. The children in it, especialy Frances will fill you with so much inspiration! I am so happy to have found a long lost friend! Thank you Amazon.com for helping me find it!

I thought that A FAMILY APART was a really good book. It helped me to understand what a poor teenager's life was like in the mid 1800's. The story was mainly about a thirteen year old girl named Frances, who lived with her mother and five siblings in New York. After Frances' father died, the family lived in poverty. The mother worked at all hours of the day to support her family. Therefore,she never had time to properly care for her six children, so she sent them on an orphan train to St. Joseph's, Missouri to live with farm families who could feed them and care for them. The children were very upset to leave their mother. They were upset because they would be separated from their brothers and sisters also. Frances did however get placed in a home with her six year old brother, Petey. Frances learned to cope with, and love her new family. Frances had some very exciting adventures while she was living with her new family in Missouri. This book helps the reader understand love, sacrifice and trust. If I were you, I'd sacrifice a little bit of time to read A FAMILY APART.

I think I read this book for the first time in 6th grade. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic lately so I've been rereading books from my childhood. I remembered that while I liked the Orphan Train series, It always bugged me that at some point (I don't remember which book) the children were allowed to go back and live with their mother and most of the 6 children declined. Having reread it, it still bugs, but I can see why the children chose to live apart through the characterization of Frances Mary in this first installment. Good reason or not, their mother abandoned them. There has to be ramifications stemming from that.

Anyway, this books sets the stage for the rest of the series as the children are sent out west on the Orphan Train. History wise, at times it appears as if the author read a few textbooks and went from there trying to explain historical events like the Missouri Compromise or the Fugitive Slave Act through wooden and clunky dialogue.

The climax in which Frances Mary, who disguises herself as a boy in order to be adopted with her youngest brother is cliche and predicable. She joins her new family in helping slaves on the Underground Railroad and is nearly arrested for her part. However, once everyone realizes she's a girl all is forgiven and the charges are dropped. I can't decide if that's historically accurate or merely the stereotype of the period. The Underground Railroad part is strange as well. It is interesting to read about Frances Mary's new relatives leaving their privileged homes in New England to move to Kansas in order make it a free (non slave) state. However, Frances Mary too easily accepts (and her adoptive parents too easily tell) their views on slavery and the like. Would a very poor, uneducated, Irish girl from New York City really know as much about slaves and slavery as Frances Mary does?

Yet, A Family Apart is a young adult book that tries to educate this historical time period for young readers. In the sense the book works. It is a quick read that will have you reaching for the next book in the series not long after you turn the last page.

6 children are put up for adoption on the Orphan Trains. Unfortunately Frances Mary has promised to take care of her younger brother Petey but has heard that people will only accept boys together. So she dresses up as a boy and is accepted by two wonderful people. Her name is now Frankie and lives on a farm. She gets involved with the Underground Railroad and learns what its like to be a boy. Unfortunately, she doesn't like the new life and misses her other brothers and sisters.

I normally don't like western books but this book is suprisingly ausome!

This was a thrilling book about a poor family that live in newyork the family has to deal with many problems first the dad dies, then the 3rd eldest gets in to some trouble because he is a copper thief Mike (the copper thief) is sent to a hearing The judge announces under there mothers wishes that the children ( Petey, Peg, Danny, Mike, Megan, and Frances) are to be sent west on the orphan train. Before the train leaves Frances the eldest child overhears that two kids in the same family are more likely to be adopted if they are boys. So Frances promising her mother that she would take care of her youngest brother cuts her hair and pretends to be a boy named Frankie. That's just the beginning Frances and her brothers and sisters encounter many other things on there quest to the west. Read this fantastic book and your eyes will open up to a whole new world of adventure thieves, slaves, fear, and depression it's sure to make your heart ache.This is a book you will always remember.

A family Apart is an intreaging book about a family of seven. The yare torn apart by a difficult sacrifice. Frances Mary who is thirteen, Michael twelve, Megan eleven, Danny ten, Peg eight, and Petey six are being separated in the west to defferent toster homes. Many exciting events happen on their trip to MIssouri. Read ths wonderful book and find out what happens in the end.

A Family Apart will help explain about ultimate sacrifice and love. The author of this novel has a unique writing style which will make you laugh and cry. Throughout the book, six children are raised in a harsh world of poverty. They are transported away by their mother, who feels she can't give them the life they deserve. When the children are separated, they realize how much they meant to each other. I enjoyed this novel because the compassion the mother shows toward her children is overwhelming.