Customer Reviews

Orphan Of Ellis Island: A Time-travel Adventure

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm a fifth grade teacher and our class reads this book during a unit on immigration. I've used it for two years and the students love it. Students who usually dislike reading moan with disapproval when I say "put away your books until tomorrow." It is exciting and is a great way to integrate instruction. Students who read about this time-traveling orphan express appreciation for their own families who are often taken for granted. Donna King, teacher on Long Island, NY

While this book is strictly for younger audiences, it is a factual and easy read.

Dominic Cantori is a foster child who has been through many foster homes in his life. He does not know who his parents are or where he is from. On a field trip to Ellis Island with his classmates, he hides in a janitor's closet so that the other children do not find out that he has no real family. He ends going to sleep in the closet and wakes up to an empty Ellis Island Museum. He ends up going back in time to 1908 and meets a few boys who end up being his friends.

As I said, this book should be strictly for a younger audience. I say this because it is more than a little unrealistic and overdramatic. But it is okay.

~Atalanta

I am in &th grade and I read this book last year with my class. I loved this book sooooo much. I couldn't stand it when the teacher would tell us to put it away. When we had a substitute we begged her to let us finish it.

I think this was a really great book and everybody should have a chance to read it. There was a sad part in it but that was ok. The person who died in the story was Salvatore. There was a boy named Dominic. He went back in time and had many adventures there. At the end you are left wondering if it was just a dream. Dominic found out at the end of the book who his Great-Grandfather was. If you read the book you will find out!

I think Orphan of Ellis Island was a really good book. Every chapter something different was happening & the author left you wondering at the end of the chapter what would happen. Here is an example of something different happening in each chapter.Dominic was on a class trip in the present time in one chapter and in the next he is in Italy back in 1908! An example of the author leaving you wondering what would happen next is when Salvatore was sick and you were wondering if he was going to live or die.

In the book, the Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff, Dominic Cantori, a fifth grader, has somthing he doesn't want to tell. Since Dominic is a orphan, he doesn't want any one to know about his family. While on a class trip to the Museum of Ellis Island, a park ranger asks the kids about their families. Dominic runs away from the group and falls asleep in a nearby closet.
When Dominic wakes up, the museum is deserted and dark. Dominic is scared and picks up the exhibit phones, hoping that this will pass the time and help him forget his fears. He just talks to the recorded voices of immigrants, the people from far away places. Suddenly, an old italian immigrant joins in his conversation. Next thing he knows, Dominic goes back into the world of this old man, in the year 1908.
Dominic meets three kids. Their names are Fransesco, Salvatore, and Antonio Candiano. The three kids are orphan brothers and live in an Italian village in Avaletto, Italy. The kids do have shelter and a friend who is priest named Father Tomasso. The Candiano bothers also have a goat name Violetta. They pick lemons for money. These bothers accept Dominic as family.
The novel is unlike any other novel. The genre is definitely different, with historical fiction and some fantasy making it an adventurous and exciting novel to read.
Our group rates the book, The Orphan of Ellis Island, four out of five stars. we rate the book this because the climax is at the end of the book and the begining of the book is not as interesting as the ending. It is a very good book that once you start, you will never be able to put down.
BY:
Rachel Fisher
Chris Vilkas
Gaje Darby
Seth Keplinger

A class 'eld trip turns into the adventure of a lifetime when young Dominic Cantori, an orphan, visits Ellis Island. Uncomfortable with all of the discussion about ancestry during the 'eld trip, Dominic wanders off from the group, falls asleep in a utility closet, and soon 'nds himself swept away to another time and place. This time travel trip takes Dominic to Italy in 1908 where he befriends three orphaned brothers. He discovers the harsh conditions that compelled people to leave their homes and seek refuge in the United States. Dominic joins the brothers as they leave Italy and he experiences 'rst hand what it felt like to travel as a steerage passenger aboard a ship to America. Upon entering New York harbor he is elated to see the Statue of Liberty and soon discovers the challenges immigrants faced at Ellis Island. When Dominic returns to the present he has developed a deeper appreciation of the struggles of those long ago immigrants and welcomes the opportunity to be placed with a foster family that is eager to adopt a child like him.

This book from Elvira Wodruff is good. It tells you how poor people lived. You can see how they live. They had no family. Dominic is the main character. Dominic didn't knew who his family was. Dominic, he is Italian and his family, when he was a baby he never saw them, just as a baby. This story takes place in New York, Italy, and a little bit of Californien. They where at Ellis Island. Dominic was with his class there to look at a family tree. Dominic wasn't looking at the tree because he will never knew who his family was. But when he is falling a sleep he got a dream and going back the time, he saw his family there when they was young.
I would go to the library and get the book it's good. I would like it , that the book goes longer, it was just intresting the the book ends, I didn't like that.

I thought this book was great only I read it to do a project on Ellis Island and it gave a little information on that but it was more on Italien immigrants. But it was a really fun book to read and I couldn't put it down!

Dominic, a Lonely, boy, who just wants to have a real family... Different Schools....And his clothes are to small... But, when his school was on vacation in Ellis Island, The Story Started, a Remarkable adventure! I am 9 years old, Almost 1, and I could not put this book down, I was in fourth Grade, and Had no books to read, i lookedin our class library, I found a nice, new book, and thought I would give it a try! I finisheed it in 3-4 does just from spare tme in class! I think every kid, would Love this book! My teacher might order around 40 books next year for her class, because of my opinion! This is the Best Book I have Ever Read!