Dana Kaufhold

The author of New York Times bestseller Orphan Train visited the high school last week to talk about her book.

Last Tuesday March 17, marked a special day for Haverford, as Orphan Train author and One Book One Philadelphia writer Christina Baker Kline visited the High School to discuss her latest book and life as a writer with students and staff. The event was organized by the outstanding efforts of 10th grade English teacher, Ms. Jen Ward.

Mrs. Kline started out the visit with a detailed overview of her latest book Orphan Train, detailing the many hours of research and interviews that she put in to the book, as well as sharing photographs and her personal experience with the trains, telling of how a member of her husband’s family was once on one of the trains. “It’s such a privilege to be able to talk to people about this particular story, because it’s a story in our American history that has been hidden”

She went on to talk about the hours of interviews and data that she gathered in preparation for the book, including interviews with actual orphan train survivors at their annual reunions, the history behind its founder and the movement itself, and photos from the trains. “As of 2014 there are less than 10 known members of orphan trains living” Mrs. kline said, claiming that she wanted to gather firsthand accounts of the events before “a part of our living history” disappeared. The photos that she shared were gathered over the course of 4 years, and included documents and articles from museums and bystanders.

After her conversation regarding her work, Baker Kline went on to answer student questions regarding her life as a writer and personal experiences.“You have to read a lot” she said in response to a question regarding the writing process, “and you have to have certain books that you use for reference that are essentially your textbooks”. Her answers and topics covered details such as her experiences as a student, when she decided to become a writer, and how her career has impacted her life.

As for those who enjoyed Orphan Train, Kline stated that some of it’s characters may appear in her later works. “I feel like I left some of the conflicts with Molly unresolved” Kline said, “and I’m definitely considering writing more about her in future books”

This visit marks the 13th One Book One Philadelphia celebration, a festival made possible through the efforts of the free library of Philadelphia and the mayors office, with a special thanks to the Havertown public library and Ms. Ward our faculty sponsor for arranging the author visit.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Photos by Dana Kaufhold.