Book Review Module 5 -- Historical Fiction -- Rodzina

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cushman, Karen. 2003. Rodzina. NY: Clarion. ISBN 0618133518.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Karen Cushman’s Rodzina offers a look at the 19th century orphan trains through the unique perspective of a young Polish girl. Cushman’s research is evident not just with the extensive bibliography, but through the seamless weave of historical detail and realistic story.

Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski may be just 12 years old, but she has already suffered the loss of her beloved parents and brothers. She expects nothing better when she is “selected” to board an orphan train headed west from Chicago in March of 1881. She is sure she will not be adopted, and if she is unlucky enough to be selected, she knows she will be doomed to a life of slavery. The plot of the story unfolds as the train continues its journey west, and readers appreciate the hardships of life on a train. Through freezing weather, days-old sandwiches, withered apples, the plight of orphans is revealed to the reader.

We are also introduced to the other orphans, who play lesser roles to Rodzina and Miss Doctor, the female chaperone who is also displaced and heading west to an unknown future. Miss Doctor is in the unfortunate position of being an educated woman in the latter 19th century, when women are supposed to be at home looking after their husbands. Unfortunately, Miss Doctor’s dreams are not so staid. Rodzina and Miss Doctor are at odds throughout the journey, and through their conflict, the reader is able to grasp the strength of these two females is a male-dominated world.

Cushman’s style, familiar to readers through A Midwife's Apprentice, effectively deals with the harsh realities as well as the tender moments experienced on this ride to California and the conflicts and that are resolved for an ultimately happy ending.


REVIEW EXCERPTS

"Rodzina is prickly, stubborn, and heart-sore but she's also honest, likable and smart...Enough unpredictability to nicely unsettle expectations." --The Horn Book

“It is 1881, and twelve-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski finds herself on an orphan train bound from Chicago to the west where, she is sure, she will be sold into slavery. . . . Rodzina’s musings and observations provide poignancy, humor, and a keen sense of the human and topographical landscape.”—School Library Journal, Starred

“A natural for American history or social studies classes, this is especially interesting as a women’s history title, with Rodzina portrayed as an unromantic protagonist, big, angry, tough. . . . Cushman talks about the history in a lengthy final note, and she includes a bibliography of other orphan books.”—Booklist, Starred

Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth


CONNECTIONS**

• Divide students into groups. Assign them various cities that are mentioned in the book: Chicago, Illinois; Grand Island, Nebraska; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ogden, Utah; Virginia City, Nevada; Reno, Nevada; Oakland, California. Have students research their assigned city and write an essay comparing and contrasting life in the 1800’s and today.

• Have students create a Polish-themed poster, with photographs of people, places or things associated with Poland or Polish-American culture.

• Have students trace on a map the route Rodzina’s train took, starting in Chicago and ending in California.

• Invite someone to your classroom that has either lived in orphanage, rode an Orphan Train or immigrated to the United States. Have each student compose a question and ask the guest.

**Taken from Kraemer, Courtney. Unk. Youth Services Librarian, Terrebonne Parish Library, Houma, LA. Available http://www.state.lib.la.us/empowerlibrary/2006%203-5%20Rodzina.pdf.