In A Place to Belong, the next story in the Orphan Train saga, Danny Kelly wishes his family were back together. Danny’s a mix of Meg and Mike to some degree but lacks the rich characterization of his siblings in the previous three books. In his story, his younger sister Peg and he are adopted by Alfrid and Olga Swenson , not far from St. Joseph. Like in A Family Apart, there is a lot of abolitionist and anti-abolitionist talk as Abraham Lincoln is elected president. It’s been awhile since I’ve read about the Civil War, but they way the characters talk about slavery and the election of 1860 comes across very anachronistically. There’s no talk of state’s rights, or republicanism, or even the slaves themselves, its just pro slavery or anti-slavery and everyone falls too neatly into either camp (oh, and there is also the hilarious scene when Danny meets John Wilkes Booth and just knows he’s evil). I know it’s a children’s book but still both Mike’s and Meg’s books managed to make the world at least a little bit gray.Olga dies with little fanfare and in then pages or less Alfrid is convinced by his ten year old foster son to marry Mrs. Kelly. Mrs. Kelly agrees and comes to St. Joseph to be with her children. From here the plot becomes so melodramatic (kidnapping, fire, love triangle) that I had to skim through until the end. Upon rereading this I remembered why I lost interest in the series, sans A Dangerous Promise. Basically, Mrs. Kelly and Alfrid decide not to get married and she goes on to marry the town blacksmith. Peg goes to live with them and Danny stays with Alfrid for I suppose valid reasons (didn’t want to lose another father) but still bugs me ten yeas after I first read this book. Mrs. Kelly and her new husband cannot financially support the other four children, Frances Mary, Megan, Mike, and Petey, plus they don’t want to leave their new foster families anyway so it all works out- I guess. Even at twelve I didn’t enjoy the plot nor did I think it was historically realistic or interesting. Young adults readers it is okay to skip this one.
