The Orphan of Ellis Island

Author: Elvira Woodruff

Main Characters: Dominic, Salvatore, Francesco, and Antonio

The story begins with Dominic as he goes on a class trip to visit the museum at Ellis Island.  He is an orphan that has been moved a lot from family to family.  While on the trip, he becomes frantic that his classmates will figure out that he is an orphan with no family so he runs off to hide.  He falls asleep in the closet and awakens to find that it is night and he is locked in the museum.  He becomes scared for being alone in empty place, but finds solace in the voices on the recorded phones.  The last phone he picks up to listen is Italian just like he was told that he was.  The comfort he finds in the voice calms him so much that he falls asleep at the phone.  Suddenly, he finds himself on an adventure.  He has "awakened" in Italy about 100 years earlier.  There he meets three boys who are orphans just like him.  What happens on this adventure??  Was is it just a dream??  You will have to read the book to find out for yourself.  This is a very nice book with great details.  I think I can find interesting ways to include this book in my classroom.