Rodzina Cl

Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski is the new face in Karen Cushman's gallery of unforgettable heroines. One of a group of orphans, 12-year-old Rodzina boards a train on a cold day in March 1881. She's reluctant to leave Chicago, the only home she can remember, and she knows there's no substitute for the family she has lost. She expects to be adopted and turned into a slave-or worse, not to be adopted at all. As the train rattles westward, Rodzina unwittingly begins to develop attachments to her fellow travelers, even the frosty orphan guardian, and to accept the idea that there might be good homes for orphans-maybe even for a big, combative Polish girl. But no placement seems right for the formidable Rodzina, and she cleverly finds a way out of one bad situation after another, until at last she finds the family that is right for her. Once again, Karen Cushman brings us a compelling story that is thoroughly researched, full of memorable characters, and told with wry humor and keen observation by an absolutely captivating narrator. Afterword

in 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski Wishes She Didn T Have To Board The Orphan Train In Chicago. But She Has No Home, No Family, And No Choice. Rodzina Doesn T Believe The Orphans Are On Their Way Out West To Be Adopted By Good Families. She S Sure They Will Become Slaves To Strangers. Anyway, Who Would Ever Adopt A Large, Tough, Stubborn Girl Of Polish Origin? As The Train Heads West, All Rodzina Has Is A Small Suitcase And Her Family Memories From The Past. Will Rodzina Ever Step Off The Train To Find The Family That Deep In Her Heart She S Searching For?

publishers Weekly

after Taking On Medieval Times In Catherine Called Birdy And Matilda Bone, Cushman Here Follows Another Feisty Heroine As She Makes Her Way West On An Orphan Train. Narrator Rodzina Cara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski (who Is Big For Twelve And Every Day Getting Bigger), Starts Out With 22 Other Orphaned Children In Chicago, And The Novel Ends As Her Train Pulls Into Oakland Station In California. The Author Packs A Lot Into The Intervening Chapters, Often At The Expense Of Character Development. A Few Of Rodzina's Fellow Riders Stand Out, Such As Pretty (but Slow) Lacey, Who Attaches Herself To Rodzina, And Mickey Dooley, Who Introduces Himself As Orphan, Purveyor Of Blarney, And A Genuine Bag Of Laughs. Although Many Of The Train Stops Are A Blur, A Memorable Scene Takes Place In A Dugout East Of Cheyenne, Where Rodzina Briefly Finds A Foster Home With The Clench Family (until She Discovers That Mr. Clench Plans To Wed Her); The Details Of The Clenches' Claustrophobic, Filthy Conditions Make For The Most Palpable Setting In The Book. Miss Doctor, As Rodzina Refers To The Female Physician Who Acts As A Guardian For The Group, Sees Through Rodzina's Tough Fa Ade And Enlists Her To Care For The Youngest Of The Orphans. But The Development Of The Relationship Between Miss Doctor (who, By Her Own Admission, Comes Across As Cold And Frosty) And Rodzina Stumbles And, Consequently, The Ending Of The Novel Rings Hollow. Ages 10-14. (mar.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski, a strong and stubborn Polish orphan, leaves Chicago on an orphan train, expecting to be adopted and turned into a slave—or worse, not to be adopted at all. As the train rattles westward, she begins to develop attachments to her fellow travelers, even the frosty orphan guardian, and to accept the idea that there might be good homes for orphans—maybe even for a big, combative Polish girl. But no placement seems right for the formidable Rodzina, and she cleverly finds a way out of one unfortunate situation after another until at last she finds the family that is right for her. Like Karen Cushman's other young girl protagonists, Rodzina is trying to find her place in the world—and she does. The compelling narrative is laced with wry humor and keen observation, full of memorable characters, and a thoroughly researched Afterword. ON A COLD MONDAY MORNING in March, when a weak, pale sun struggled to shine and ice glistened in the cracks in the wooden street, a company of some twenty-two orphan children with stiff new clothes and little cardboard suitcases boarded a special railway car at the station near the Chicago River. A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and to the hazards of a new life. A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery.