Customer Reviews

Rodzina

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A gaggle of orphans leaves Chicago, bound west toward slavery or worse--at least that's the prevailing opinion among the children. Rodzina, a twelve year old Polish immigrant who lost her family to fire and illness, narrates this journey with humor, candor, sadness, and humanity. As the miles click away, we learn something of the time and places through which we are taken. In the tradition of Lucy Whipple, Catherine Called Birdy, and Matilda Bone, Rodzina is another example of a strong girl making sense of her desperate situation. This book is perfect for children in grades four through nine, and for fans of children's literature no matter what age. Karen Cushman is a gifted storyteller.

This is a sweetheart of a story. I enjoyed every page of this book. Rodzina is with a group of orphans that is being sent out West on the Orphan Train. Rodzina is grumpy and grouchy. She is also frightened and lonely. Unlike the other orphans in the group, she came from a happy home and had loving parents. She is drawn to Miss Doctor who is in charge of the girls on the train even though she seems uncaring and cold. Rodzina does have a gift for organization and caring for younger children. Some of my favorite parts of the story are where she tells stories to the lother children. She is a wonderful storyteller. The children's desire for a family is touching and heart breaking at the same time. Rodzina is looking for a home and you cheer for her as she reaches for it. I am a fan of Katherine Cushman, this is my very favorite book of hers so far.

Rodzina has seen the face of tragedy several times over, and now it seems as if hope has turned its back on this homely immigrant from Poland.

Rodzina and many other orphaned children of all ages are being shipped out of Chicago on a train. They are going west to find new homes and establish new lives. At the time, the powers-that-be believed that working on farms as laborers would be good for these city orphans. Rodzina and many of the other orphans consider this change in circumstances to be a sentence to a life of slavery, and needless to say, Rodzina would rather live in an orphanage or even on the streets than face an existence in a strange place where she has to work in the fields from sun up to sun down day after day. Bitter, sharp and angry, Rodzina isolates herself from everyone else on the train as it clatters west. At each town where the train stops, a few more orphans find homes until Rodzina is the only one left, alone and unwanted.

Carefully researched, RODZINA tells us of a time when orphans were not to be trusted and were often treated little better than slaves or beasts of burden. It was not uncommon for orphans to have their teeth and limbs examined by prospective 'parents' at the time of 'adoption' to determine their worthiness as potential farmhands. In the back of the book, the reader will find a detailed history of the Orphan Train and other similar efforts to 'rehabilitate' orphaned and unwanted children.

Karen Cushman has received great acclaim for her historical novels, as she was awarded a Newbery Honor for CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY and the Newbery Medal for THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE. With skill and finesse, Cushman weaves a rich and powerful tale of self-discovery and, ultimately, hope.

--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber

This is a wonderful book. Big, grouchy Rodzina is a character with great appeal, vulnerable, strong, and funny. Her bleak situation makes for good suspense and real shudders, since we know that many orphan children actually did find themselves sent out West on trains with the (often unfounded) hope that they'd be adopted by decent families. Cushman brings this episode in history very much alive. Readers will be amused, informed (never heavy-handedly), and moved.

This historical nonfiction book is about a real orphan girl named Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski. She and her family were Polish immigrants. Rodzina had a mom, dad, and twin 5-year-old brothers. When she was about ten her dad died, then her mom died shortly after that. She then became an orphan at the age of twelve and had to board the first of many trains going West with a lot of other orphans. Before becoming an orphan she didn't even know what a train was!

Because she was the oldest, she had to help take care of the other kids. She was lonely and sad, but then she became friends with some of the others whose names were Lacey, Joe, and his brother Sammy. She also met a lot of other people who were traveling west on the trains. Rodzina was talking to a lady with "rosy red cheeks and red cherries on her hat. She seemed very nice." The two adults that were watching the orphans and making sure they didn't get hurt were Mr. Szprots, who wasn't very nice and Ms. Doctor, who Rodzina grew to like.

Did the tall, brave Rodzina get picked to be a daughter or didn't she? How many of the original fourteen orphans would find good homes on the train ride West? I recommend this book to people who would like to learn more about the world of a young orphan in the 1880's. I loved this book and know if you read it you will too!

As the orphans board the train they are told they are going to be adopted by loving and caring families out west. Rodzina Brodski, in the novel Rodzina by Karen Cushman, isn't sure about this and doesn't want a new family. She is perfectly fine with her orphanage back in Chicago but is forced to move west. Along the way she meets several orphans and interesting people. Another orphan on the train named Lacey becomes very good friends with Rodzina after they end up sitting together. Another person who Rodzina meets is the lady who is in charge of the orphans named Mrs. Doctor. Later at the end of the novel Mrs. Doctor who has grown fond of Rodzina decides to have Rodzina come live with her. This book is very fascinating and with its fast paced action it will make the reader anxious to know what will happen next. This is a good novel and I would recommend it to others.


Another reason why I would recommend this book is because the characters seem very realistic. I could imagine them in the scenes of the book as I read the story. Rodzina seems like an average girl who is scared and not wanting to be part of a new family, as most orphans would be. Another example, Mrs. Doctor at first seems cruel but later find out she is kind and caring. The plot seems also very realistic because several of these events actually did happen to real orphans.


Another reason why I recommend this book is because of the creativity in the plot. This book will grab the reader's attention from the very beginning when the orphan's situations are described. The reader will have fun trying to imagine how Rodzina feels and what she is going though. It will make the reader really relieve the hardships in there lives.


As a historical fiction novel, Rodzina told about how life was in America during the late 1800's. The author used great detail to describe the country side that the train traveled though and the cities they spent time in. After reading the novel I had a much better understanding of how life was different form today. An example of this difference is how long it took them to travel from Chicago to California.


Rodzina is an excellent well written novel that I would highly recommend. Readers looking for a funny adventurous story will love this book. The reader will route for Rodzina to find a family and live happily. They will want to keep reading until they find out the great ending of who adopts Rodzina.




~C. Cirillo

RODZINA
A girl named Rodzina is an orphan. She is living on the streets of Chicago. A nun, who knew her, grabbed her and put her on a train. The train was taking her to place where she would be adopted. Rodzina was on this train for many days, and all they fed her was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When they reached their destination, a lot of other kids were being adopted, except Rodzina was not being adopted. She was glad that she was not being adopted; she wanted to go back to Chicago and live on the streets once again. After a few hours all the children who where not adopted got back on the train, and for many more nights all she ate was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
At there next stop Rodzina was adopted. She was mad! The people who adopted her wanted her as a slave not a daughter. So Rodzina told them that she was Polish, and it was against her religion to work on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Fridays. So they took her back and tore up the certificate, threw it in the mans face that was the leader of the adoption agency.
Rodzina got back on the train and for many more nights swayed in the rocking train. When they reached the next town Rodzina was adopted again. This time she was adopted by a couple who already had had twelve children. She felt that this might not be so bad. When they reached their house she could not find it. One of the children told her that they lived in a dugout. She thought that this could be nice. And they all lived happily ever after.

Rodzina is an orphan living on the streets of Chicago when she is put on an orphan train going west. The train stopped in Grand Island first. Three old ladys' adopted Rodzina and went down the road and turned around and took her back to the train station. She kept on going west with Miss Doctor and the other orphans that weren't adopted at the first stop. They stopped again in Cheyenne at another train Clench family that had twelve kids and a mother and father. It took the Clench family and Rodzina a long time to get back to the Clench's home. Rodzina had never seen a dugout and now she lived in one Rodzina found out Mrs. Clench was dying and the only reason Mr. Clench adopted her was for a new wife. When his old wife died because she was very ill. Mr. Clench took Rodzina back to the train station to Miss Doctor the very next morning. Rodzina continued to travel west with Lacy, Joe, and Sammy. On the next train Lacy found a cat and named him Dumpling. The conductor said the cat was for catching mice on the train. When the train stopped again there was a huge blizzard going on. Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle stood out on the train platform waiting for Miss Doctor and the orphans. They were in Ogden, Utah Territory. When they got into the train station Miss Doctor looked around for Lacy and found she wasn't there. The Tuttles took Joe, Sammy, Rodzina, and Miss Doctor to their hotel and called the Boss which was a sherriff. Mr. Tuttle, the Coss, and a couple of others looked for Lacy for 3 days they finally found her cuddled with a cow and Dumpling in a barn. Mr. and Mrs. Tuttle adopted Lacy and Dumpling. ...and I won't spoil the wonderful ending!!

I loved this book and i thought it was one of my favorite books that I have read.

I would like to inform the readers out there that there is a great book to read on the market that makes me wonder what it would be like to be an orphan in the late 19th century. Rodzina, by Karen Cushman, is a fast moving adventure story of an orphan that travels west on an orphan train with all of these orphans that are looking for a "someone" to take care of them. Rodzina, after losing both her mother and father and undergoing countless hardships, isn't looking for some weirdo to take her in as a servant or slave; she's looking for a family and a life. She is alone in the world and isn't sure what to do. Rodzina meets all the little orphans that seem to be happy about going west. She finds herself in charge of the bunch. Some won't leave her alone; one in particular called Lacey is always hanging on to Rodzina who is only 12 years old. She tries to be friendly but in the end she gets really annoyed. By the end of the story she has learned a lot about life and has been taught many lessons but also finds herself among the last of the orphans. Will she chosen?

One scene that I found interesting in this book was at the very beginning when all the orphans are getting on the train to go west. The author describes a crowded station with the orphan stuck in the middle of a mess. They have to get on the train, but keep getting shoved aside by other travelers. She describes the locomotive as a looming dragon. They get inside the train to find a stuffy car with windows that won't open or close. This part makes me feel sad because it puts a depressing picture in my head.

I thought that this was a good book overall. There were a few spots that I started to daydream but it kept me focused for pretty much the whole book. I thought that this book was just right for a middle school reader however, If had a bookshelf with all my favorite books on it I don't think this would be on it. I think I will forget about this book because it didn't make any lasting impressions on me.

Rodzina is one of a large group of children who board the Orphan Train in search of new homes and lives; but unlike her fellow hopefuls, she has no illusions about her marketability to a potential family. She's large, ugly and Polish - who would want a 12-year-old with such characteristics? Rodzina's spunk and candid look at life makes for a compelling, different Orphan Train story.