Caught In The Act (The Orphan Train Adventures) - Softcover

Nixon, Joan Lowery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553279122 ISBN 13: 9780553279122

Publisher: Starfire, 1989

Synopsis

The Orphan Train Quartet follows the story of the six Kelly children, whose widowed mother has sent them west from New York City in 1856 because she realizes she cannot give them the life they deserve. Mike Kelly, almost 12 is adopted by the Fredrichs, a German immigrant farm family living in Missouri. His new stepmother is kind, but his stepfather is very strict. And as for their son, Gunter, he’s just a bully who finds countless ways to get Mike in deep trouble. Mike knows he has no alternative but to try to make the best of his new life. When he begins to suspect that the Fredrichs are hiding something, however, he vows to uncover their secret. Can Mike find a way to expose the truth without risking his own life?

About this title

About the Author:

Joan Lowery Nixon was the author of more than 130 books for young readers and was the only four-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Best Young Adult Mystery Award. She received the award for The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, The Séance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, and The Other Side of the Dark, which also won the California Young Reader Medal. Her historical fiction included the award-winning series The Orphan Train Adventures, Orphan Train Children, and Colonial Williamsburg: Young Americans.
From the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6 This is Nixon's second book that chronicles the adventures of six Irish-American siblings who have been sent from the slums of New York City to new homes on the Frontier in the years just prior to the Civil War. The focus here is on 11-year-old Mike Kel ley, who is placed with a German immi grant farmer more interested in acquir ing cheap labor than a new family member. When Mike overhears Frie drich and his kind-hearted wife discuss ing their fear of retribution over a man's death, he suspects foul play. The imagi native youngster's suspicions are ag gravated when his best friend Reuben, an educated farmhand, disappears after a loud altercation with the overseer. The puzzle is believably pieced togeth er as the motivations of father and son are revealed at story's end. Unfortu nately, this revelation does little to ex tend the dimension of these two flat characters who approach ethnic stereo types. The industry and discipline re quired by agrarians of the period, along with their isolation (an element which contributes to the book's suspenseful, at times melodramatic, tone), is ade quately conveyed. On the other hand, information about slavery and immigra tion is presented in a contrived manner. Flaws outweigh attributes. Events re ferred to which occured in the first in stallment are unclear, plot threads are unresolved, and the dialogue is weak. In the final analysis, this is more of a suspense novel with a historical setting than a solid historical novel with a sus penseful storyline.Julie Corsaro, Univ. of Chicago Laboratory Schools
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Starfire
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0553279122
• ISBN 13: 9780553279122
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 150