Wanderville - Softcover

McClure, Wendy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1595147012 ISBN 13: 9781595147011

Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2014

Synopsis

THE FIRST BOOK IN A HISTORICAL SERIES THAT'S PERFECT FOR FANS OF THE BOXCAR CHILDREN!

Jack, Frances, and Frances’s younger brother Harold have been ripped from the world they knew in New York and sent to Kansas on an orphan train at the turn of the century. As the train chugs closer and closer to its destination, the children begin to hear terrible rumors about the lives that await them. And so they decide to change their fate the only way they know how. . . .

They jump off the train.

There, in the middle of the woods, they meet a boy who will transform their lives forever. His name is Alexander, and he tells them they've come to a place nobody knows about—especially not adults—and "where all children in need of freedom are accepted." It's a place called Wanderville, Alexander says, and now Jack, Frances, and Harold are its very first citizens.

About this title

About the Author

Wendy McClure (WendyMcClure.net) is the author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie and several other books for adults and children. She is a senior editor at Albert Whitman and Company, where her recent projects include books in the Boxcar Children series. She received an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and has been a contributor to the New York Times Magazine and This American Life. She lives in Chicago with her husband.

From School Library Journal

Gr 4–6—Somewhat reminiscent of the "Boxcar Children" series (Albert Whitman), this book centers around the "Orphan Train Movement" that occured between 1853 and 1929. Readers are introduced to 11-year-old Jack, who has been abandoned by his parents after the death of his older brother. Frances, also 11, and her younger brother, Harold, suffer a similar abandonment. Their unfortunate circumstances bring them together, along with other children, on a train headed to Kansas and a "better situation." As the train chugs closer to their destination, the children become concerned about rumors of horrible working conditions and abuse. Jack hatches a plan to escape and encourages Frances to join him. Readers will be swept away by the bravery of the young heroes. While background information about the era can be gleaned from the text, pair this title with Andrea Warren's Orphan Train Rider (Houghton Mifflin, 1996) for deeper historical context. Readers of series fiction who enjoy learning about the past will gravitate toward this accessible novel and will be impatient for the sequel.—Annette Herbert, F. E. Smith Elementary School, Cortland, NY

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1595147012
• ISBN 13: 9781595147011
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240