Sparse rhyming verse ("Months of waiting, Orphans clean. Benches crowded. Scrunched between.") relates the story of three children orphaned during a typhoid epidemic. David, Harold, and Lucy run the streets stealing food and sleeping in doorways until they are taken in to an orphanage. Later they journey with other orphans on the Orphan Train, paraded in towns along the way to be picked for adoption. Harold and Lucy are reunited at story's end but David's whereabouts are still unknown. Ends hopefully but conveys the hard reality of the Orphan Train's history.

This simple, heartfelt book presents fictional characters (young orphans Lucy, Harold, and David) experiencing life on the "orphan train" in the 19th century. The short, rhythmic words make the heavy, sad topics lighter for children to contemplate. Beautiful pictures make the emotions the children experience-- abandonment, anxiety, and anger-- very real. ( )