Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2004)

Starred Review LaFaye's novel is one of the first to tell the Orphan Train story from the viewpoint of a kid displaced by a newcomer. Even worse than the pain that 11-year-old Nate felt when his leg was crushed in an accident is rejection by his pa, who takes in young John Worth to pick up Nate's work on their small farm. Nate's angry first-person narrative is brutally honest, and, at first, he is bitterly resentful of John, an orphan who lost his family in a New York City tenement fire: "Just cause he lost his father didn't mean he had a right to mine." Through Nate's narrative comes a sense of the grueling daily work, the family struggle to try to hold on to the land and avoid failure. In addition, there's some late-nineteenth-century history about the local wars between cattle ranchers (who want grazing land) and farmers (who need room for crops), and in an exciting climax, Nate and John ride together to warn the farmers and prevent the fence-cutters from causing a cattle stampede. Only an awkward metaphor about the Greek myths seems patched on. The short, spare novel doesn't need the heavy heroic parallels; it tells its own story of darkness and courage. A great choice for American history classes.

Horn Book

An accident has almost cost eleven-year-old Nate his leg, making him useless for farm work. When his father brings home an orphan boy to help him work their Nebraska homestead, the new arrival heightens Nate's feelings of frustration, anger, and sadness. Each boy wants what the other has, and both boys yearn for the love of their fathers. This short tale has a quietly epic sweep.

Kirkus Reviews

"A steer you'd have to pay for, but a boy you could adopt for free," says Nathaniel after he injures his leg and his father adopts John Worth to help work their Nebraska land. Nathaniel is jealous of John, but there's enough bad feeling to go around. Ma and Pa have lost their little girl; John lost his family in a New York City fire (the reason he's an orphan); and Nathaniel fears he'll never walk properly again. Yet John proves his worth, and the two boys become like brothers as Nathaniel realizes the need to make do with what they have and get on with life. It's a lively story of two boys set against a backdrop of the Orphan Trains, range wars, lynchings, drownings, and sheep killings. Something for everyone. (Historical fiction. 8-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

There's a world of pain in LaFaye's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Year of the Sawdust Man) spare, lyrical novel set in 19th-century Nebraska. The author here assumes an unusual perspective on the Orphan Train theme, focusing on the adoptive family. The Peales, homesteaders surrounded by cattlemen who are hostile to farmers, take in John Worth after their own son, Nate, is crippled in a freak accident. Nate, the 11-year-old narrator, sagely notes, "A steer you'd have to pay for but a boy you could adopt for free." Readers will identify with how displaced Nate feels by John, but their sympathies may divide when they learn that John's entire family died in a tenement fire. LaFaye paints a realistic picture of the hardships for average families at the time the Orphan Train rode the rails. The Peales have come through tragedies of their own; they lost their farm in Illinois to the bank, and an infant daughter due to a baby-sitter's negligence. Ma is shouldering a chip against John so heavy it threatens to crush her; Pa feels guilty over Nate's accident. It's up to the boys to sort out the tensions, which they do in a lively ending that makes them heroes (they save the area's farms from rampaging cattle by catching some "fence-cutters" red-handed). The author weaves in a subtle message about the power of story, as Nate builds a bond with John by reading him Greek myths out of a borrowed book. Ages 8-12.<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC""> (June)

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-As 11-year-old Nathaniel rushes to bring in hay ahead of an approaching thunderstorm, his leg is crushed beneath a wagon when the team of horses, spooked by lightning, lurches out of control. His father brings one more conflict to their late-19th-century Nebraska homestead in the person of John Worth, a boy taken off the orphan train to help take up the slack. The family is already tense about previous financial failures and the loss of a daughter. Now fence cutters exacerbate the land-use conflict between ranchers and farmers by freeing cattle to trample the crops on which the farmers' survival depends. The author convincingly conveys the boys' gradual realization of the value of one another's friendship. Other themes include the importance of reading and education, meeting challenges head on, relying on and playing a responsible role in your community, and recovering from loss. A special strength of the book is the characterization of Nathaniel's mom, whose fierce anger is emotionally balanced by her dedication to her family's well-being. Although she works as a tinker, she lets her husband take credit in deference to the mores of the time. A satisfying piece of historical fiction.-Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Junior High School, Iowa City, IA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.