Rodzina, Karen Cushman
Rodzina, Karen Cushman
List: $12.95 | Sale: $9.07
Club: $6.47

Rodzina

Author: Karen Cushman

Narrator: Becky Ann Baker

Unabridged: 4 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/22/2003

Synopsis

In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn’t have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn’t believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She’s sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin? As the train heads west, all Rodzina has is a small suitcase and her family memories from the past. Will Rodzina ever step off the train to find the family that deep in her heart she’s searching for?

About The Author

Karen Cushman is the author of the Newbery Medal book The Midwife’s Apprentice, the Newbery Honor book Catherine, Called Birdy, and Matilda Bone, all set in medieval England and available on audio from Listening Library. Francine Green is the third Cushman protagonist whose story is set in the USA, joining Rodzina and Lucy Whipple.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary on January 17, 2013

Overall this was a good kids chapter book. But that is precisely why I didn't like it as much as Cushman's other books I have read. The Midwives Apprentice, for example I thought could be read and enjoyed equally by all ages, but Rodzina did not hold the same quality. While it did have issues and pe......more

Goodreads review by ValeReads on November 27, 2017

I enjoyed this book for me—found the plot compelling and the characters engaging and the prose well-written. But I would never hand it to a child. While it contains nothing graphic, there is a disturbing part of the story that, though probably realistic, describes a depraved side of sexuality a chil......more

Goodreads review by Helena on December 07, 2016

We thoroughly enjoyed this read-aloud tale of a girl traveling west on an orphan train. It worked beautifully in conjunction with a unit of study on the Transcontinental Railroad, and we recognized references to the Union and Central Pacific Railroad companies, the Thousand Mile Tree, the Summit Tun......more

Quotes

“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

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