Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

     Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline opens one of the many doors to the world of the orphan in America.  In this case, the voice is that of a young girl whose world is turned inside out by the deaths of her family members.
     The story touches the heart as the reader witnesses the bare bones of emotional abandonment and confusion.  The young narrator's struggle to make sense of a lost life and, at the same time her strive for a measure of control in the new world of foster families, grips the reader with a pain that is deep and profound.  The story, along with the sudden and unfathomable loneliness of death and abandonment, gives the reader access to a world beyond the front door of foster care.  The lesson that seeps into the heart is that there are precarious places for a child and that the safety of children cannot be taken for granted.
     On the other hand, Kline uses the word to place a hand on the wound as she weaves the most unexpected friendship between a child on the verge of being jaded by unfortunate circumstances with her elderly friend and "savior."  Actually, the two women form a bond that allows them to heal old wounds.
    As the friendship progresses, Kline, along with the reader, weaves layer after layer of emotional warmth and at the end of this beautiful story, the bare bones emotional skeleton has grown layers of rich flesh infused with the forces of love, friendship, and acceptance.