Lulu Marketplace

What a great story! I read this book in two days and would recommend it to all ages. A heartwarming story of a wonderful man and his family.

What a Great book. I couldn't put it down. Would recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a well-written story.

This excellently crafted biography of Judith Kappenman's grandfather who rode an orphan train to South Dakota in the late 1800s is well worth the read. As the pages turn, we watch his anger and resentment grow as a child taken in by a strict farmer and his German wife. We see him mature to find an excellent wife of his own and carve out a place for himself in the small town of Ethan, SD. We cheer him as he becomes the good father he never had to his two children. We note how his childhood anger clings to him, flashing up again and again. We watch him resolve it. This book is not simply a biography. It is an exploration of why a child had to ride an orphan train and how that affected even his adult life. In intent, TO DAKOTA AND BACK is similar to my biography of Teresa Martin, MAIL-ORDER KID: AN ORPHAN TRAIN RIDER'S STORY. These are books that will help keep orphan train history alive. MARILYN JUNE COFFEY, author, MAIL-ORDER KID