Today is the kick-off for the 13th annual One Book, One Philadelphia program hosted by the Free Library of Philadelphia. Over the next eight weeks, 100-plus educational events — including book discussions, kids' craft workshops, film screenings and musical performances — will focus on the three age-specific, train-related book selections.
The main title? Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. This bestseller tells the tale of two foster girls from different generations, one of whom is transported on an "orphan train," a real journey that, between 1853 and 1929, relocated 250,000 abandoned kids from crowded East Coast orphanages to Midwestern farmland foster homes. Kline — who, fun fact, baby-sat for Stephen King's sons when she was a teenager — will be at the library tonight for a free discussion/interview/music program to get One Book rolling.
Because Orphan Train's tone and subject matter are intended for adult readers, the library has recommended two thematically linked companion books for younger readers.
Karen Cushman's Rodzina is a cautionary tale about a young orphan who is looking for a new beginning, written for kids in 5th through 9th grades.
For readers ages 4 to 10, Brian Floca's Caldecott Medal-winning Locomotive flips its lushly illustrated focus between close studies of how steam trains work with a family's transcontinental railroad trip during the Steam Age of the late 1800s.
Click through for more info on One Book events and ways to borrow the selected titles.
