Orphan Train

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1

Reading Check

1. What has Molly been caught stealing?

2. Where does Molly do her community service hours?

3. Where did Niamh and her family emigrate from?

4. How old is Vivian when her family dies?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do Molly and Vivian realize they are similar?

2. How does Vivian end up at the Children’s Aid Society?

3. What leads Niamh, Carmine, and Dutchy to travel together on the train west?

Part 2

Reading Check

1. How does Molly want to clean out Vivian’s attic?

2. What promise does Dutchy want to make with Niamh?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is it significant that Molly’s foster parents insist on meat at every meal?

2. How does seeing her belongings affect Vivian?

3. What happens at the stop in Minneapolis?

Part 3

Reading Check

1. What does Vivian give Molly?

2. Where does Niamh/Dorothy live after the Byrnes’ house?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why do the Byrnes take Niamh?

2. How has the relationship between Vivian and Molly shifted?

3. What is the Grotes household like?

Paired Resource

“Confessions of a Foster Child”

• Mr. Doradea presents his slam poem reflecting on the effects of foster care.
• Theme connections include Portaging.
• How has foster care affected Molly and Vivian? Which lines from this poem would Molly or Vivian most connect to?

Part 4

Reading Check

1. What is Molly’s father’s tribe?

2. Where does Dorothy walk after the Grotes throw her out in the middle of the night?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does it mean to portage?

2. How does Miss Larsen treat Dorothy?

3. How does Dorothy feel about being at Mrs. Murphy’s?

Paired Resource

“Lightening the Load”

• This article, from The Houston Chronicle and Rice Business, examines the impact having luggage and essentials can have on those in foster care.
• The resource connects to the theme of Portaging.
• Where has Niamh/Dorothy/Vivian had to portage?

Part 5

Reading Check

1. What does Molly reveal to her class at school?

2. After staying with Mrs. Murphy, who does Dorothy go live with?

3. How does Dorothy get the name Vivian?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How have Molly and Vivian faced their pasts in similar ways?

2. Why do Molly and Jack fight?

3. What does Molly find out when researching Vivian’s family?

Paired Resource

“Photographer's Decade-Long, 600,000 Mile Journey Shows Indigenous Life in New Book”

• NPR interviews Matika Wilbur about her quest to photograph members of all federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States. The resource includes different voices and reflections on lives and generations, with options for reading the article and an 8-minute audio version.
• Theme connections include Ghosts Haunt the Present.
• How is being a Penobscot Indian significant to Molly?

Part 6

Reading Check

1. When Dina throws Molly out, where does Molly go?

2. When in Minneapolis with friends, what movie does Vivian see?

3. What is Dutchy’s job now?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Vivian help the Nielsens at the store?

2. What happens when Vivian sees Dutchy/Luke in Minneapolis?

Part 7

Reading Check

1. How does Dutchy die?

2. Where does Molly finally feel safe?

3. How does Vivian use her new computer and internet?

4. Who comes to visit Vivian in Maine?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In what ways are Dutchy and Vivian different?

2. How has Molly’s relationship with school changed?

3. What does the last scene reveal about how Vivian’s life has shifted recently?

Paired Resource

“I'll Cover You (Reprise)”

• In this video from the stage version of Rent, Angel’s friends gather for his memorial and sing about love and loss.
• The song connects to the theme of Ghosts Haunt the Present.
• How does Dutchy’s death affect Vivian?

Recommended Next Reads

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

• In the Dominican Republic, Dedé Mirabal recounts the story of herself and her family, focusing on her three sisters, who were martyred for standing up to the dictator Trujillo. The story weaves through the past and present.
• A shared theme is Ghosts Haunt the Present.
• Shared topics include reflecting on the past, storytelling, shifts in voice and time, history, importance of belongings, family, secrets and truth, identity, surviving, courage, and friendship.
• In the Time of the Butterflies on SuperSummary

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan shape each other’s lives. War sends Amir and his father to the United States. Years in the future, Amir receives a phone call that forces him to face the past and sends him on a journey of redemption.
• Shared themes include Portaging and Ghosts Haunt the Present.
• Shared topics include identity, growing up, war, family, facing the past, friendship, storytelling, courage, fear, violence, foster care, secrets and truth, surviving, and hope.
• The Kite Runner on SuperSummary