Orphan Journey Home

When the Damons decide to abandon their Chicago farm one day, there is little time for objections. Jesse, the narrator and second oldest child in the family, is excited about seeing her grandparents again. Her family begins for Kentucky, even though their oldest son Moses disagrees with their desision. After roughing it a few days, Mama falls ill to what is known as "the milk sickness". She later dies. Not long after, their father falls to his own death to the same disease. The four children are left alone, on the trail back home, to Kentucky. At first, they are lost, scared and confused. Nothing is going right- they're orphans after all. After seperations and heart breaks, Jesse finds herself lying in a bed in a plantation house. She meets a slave boy, and wants to free him, but kows she can't. The children continue through their adventures, until they meet their grandmothers open arms in the end. A touching story.

This book deals with seperation from parents - a difficult topic mostly only adults will understand - without making it overly harsh for children to read. Adults will also enjoy this short read. Jesse Damron and her family set out for Kentucky. On the way, their parents both die, leaving the four children as seeminginly helpless orphans who must somehow avoid being 'bounded-out' and make it home to Kentucky alone. But they are far from that. Just read this unique book to find out why! what's unique and original about this tale is the fact that both parents die, unlike in so many stories, when only one dies, and as well, the seemingly 'friendly' people can turn out to be the childrens' grteatest nightmare - like a 'master' when you're 'bounded-out.' Original and smoothly written - it's one of those short books that you can't put down! If you haven't read it yet, read it!

This book is superbly written and is a perfect and endearing story that should appeal to most students of almost any age. It is highly recommended as a read-aloud text for those times when you need to get the class quieted down after lunch or you need something good to read to your class. I found the story to be quite touching and rather beautiful.

I taught this book to my 4th graders once a week because we received it in installments from the local newspaper. My kids couldn't wait for Thursdays. It was wonderful for prediction and survival knowledge skills for my students. I would highly recommend it for all kids in the 3-5th grade range. I even had kids that had difficulty reading enjoying this book. A+ 5 stars.

In our classroom we got installments of this book in the newspaper and we couldn't wait for the next newspaper to be sent in. It was a story of the hardships of traveling with no parents, worrying about being bound-out and trying to keep the family alive and together. It was a diary kept by a girl named Jesse, describing their trip from Illinois to Kentucky