\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/great-railway-bazaar-196x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | Traveler extraordinaire Paul Theroux is known for fabulous train journeys, recounted in such train classics as The Great Railway Bazaar<\/em> (Mariner Books, 2006), in which he travels through Asia on the Orient Express and more; Riding the Iron Rooster<\/em> (Mariner Books, 2006), an account of a train trip through China, and many more. A great connection to geography for teens<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nORPHAN TRAINS<\/b><\/h4>\nFrom the mid-19th<\/sup> century to the 1920s, New York City\u2019s Children\u2019s Aid Society shipped abandoned or orphaned children by train to adoptive families in the west. These trains came to be known as the Orphan Trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/train-to-somewhere-300x264.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n In Eve Bunting\u2019s picture book Train to Somewhere<\/i> (Sandpiper, 2000), shy, plain Marianne has been sent west on an orphan train, at each stop along the way looking vainly for her real mother. Finally, in Somewhere, Iowa, the train\u2019s last stop, she finds a loving home with a couple who had thought they wanted a boy. For ages 5-8.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/a-family-apart-180x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Joan Lowery Nixon\u2019s Orphan Train Adventures series follows the adventures of the six Kelly children (Frances Mary, Mike, Megan, Danny, Peg, and Petey), sent west on the orphan train to find new homes when their widowed mother is no longer able to support them. There are seven books in the series, beginning with A Family Apart<\/i> (Laurel Leaf, 1995). Suspense, adventure, and mystery for ages 9 and up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/orphan-train-rider-274x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Andrea Warren\u2019s Orphan Train Rider<\/i> (Sandpiper, 1998) alternates a history of the orphan train movement with the real-life story of Lee Nailling, sent to Nebraska via orphan train in 1926. A fascinating account, illustrated with period black-and-white photos, for ages 10 and up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/We-rode-the-orphan-trains-267x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Also by Andrea Warren, We Rode the Orphan Trains<\/i> (Sandpiper, 2004) is a collection of personal histories of eight different orphan train riders. For ages 10 and up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/orphan-train-girl-YR-198x300.jpg\") <\/td>\n | Christine Baker Kline’s Orphan Train Girl (William Morrow, 2013) is the story of young Molly, who has spent her life moving from foster home to foster home, and the bond she forms with Vivian, now in her nineties, who was an orphan train child. The original book is for teens and adults; there’s also a Young Readers version (3018) for ages 8-12.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/orphan-trains-pbs-300x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n In PBS\u2019s American Experience series, the 60-minute film The Orphan Trains<\/a> (2006) is fascinating history of the movement, with first-person accounts and period photos. Included at the website are background information, an extensive resource list, and a teacher\u2019s guide.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n <\/p>\n WRECKS AND DISASTERS<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/death-of-iron-horse-300x231.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Paul Goble’s distinctively illustrated picture-book\u00a0The Death of the Iron Horse<\/i> (Bradbury, 1987) is the true story of a band of young Cheyenne warriors who, on August 7, 1867, derailed a Union Pacific freight train – the fearsome Iron Horse, that breathed smoke and had a voice like thunder. For ages 5-9.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/kate-shelley-207x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express<\/i> (Margaret K. Wetterer; Carolrhoda, 1991) is the brave and true tale of young Kate Shelley who saves the Midnight Express from disaster when, during the Mississippi Flood of July, 1881, the railroad bridge over Honey Creek breaks. An exciting bit of history for ages 6-10.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/i-dream-of-trains-300x263.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n In Angela Johnson\u2019s award-winning I Dream of Trains<\/i> (Simon & Schuster, 2003), a young black boy, working in the cotton fields near the railroad track, dreams of trains and of his hero, the legendary engineer Casey Jones. When Jones is killed in a train collision, he worries that his dreams are over \u2013 until his father wisely explains that \u201cthere\u2019ll be other trains,\u201d reassuring him that someday he\u2019ll be able to leave and find his place in the world. For ages 5-9.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rebeccaruppresources.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/casey-jones-207x300.jpg\") <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n Stephen Krensky\u2019s Casey Jones<\/i> (First Avenue Editions, 2007) in the On My Own Folklore series is the story of the train engineer who became a folk hero when he managed to save all his passengers when the Cannonball<\/i> collided with another train. For ages 7-10.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| <\/td>\n | History reports that the train wreck may have been all Casey\u2019s fault. See an alternate account of the story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Listen to Johnny Cash’s | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |