Orphan at My Door

Orphan at My Door
Book no.	1
Series	Dear Canada
Author	Jean Little
Publisher	Scholastic Canada
Published	August 1, 2001
Pages	224
ISBN	9780439988346
Setting	Guelph, Ontario
Timeline	May – September 1897
Preceded by
Chronology	Flame and Ashes
Followed by
Chronology	All Fall Down
Publication	A Prairie as Wide as the Sea

Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope is the first book in Scholastic Canada's Dear Canada series. The book was written by Jean Little and is her first entry for the series. It was published in August 2001 with Sarah Ellis' A Prairie as Wide as the Sea. A French edition was released in February 2005.

Dedication

"For Mary Ronzio, an inspired researcher and cherished friend."

Book description

• Original
• French

"Saturday, May 28, 1897, Bedtime
We went and got our Home Girl. She is very small and shy. Her name is Mary Anna Wilson and she is twelve years old. She looks as though she's ten.
There were just four children on the station platform. Only one of them was a girl. All four wore labels with their names written on them, and each of them had a trunk—a big, wooden one with brass corners.
I could tell Father was displeased about something. "We need someone strong to help my wife," he told the woman waiting with the children. "That girl is nothing but a child. A sickly youngster wouldn't be worth her keep."
The girl had her head ducked down so far we could just see the top of her hat. She could not help but hear every word he spoke."

"Samedi 28 mai 1897, dans mon lit
Nous somme allés chercher notre orpheline. Elle est toute petite et très timide. Elle s'appelle Mary Anna Wilson et elle a douze ans. On dirait qu'elle n'a pas plus de dix ans.
Quand nous sommes arrivés à la gare, il n'y avait que quatre enfants sur le quai. Et seulement une fille. Chacun des quatre enfants portait une étiquette avec son nom écrit dessus et se tenait à côté d'un coffre avec son nom écrit dessus, aussi. C'étaient de gros coffres en bois avec des coins en laiton.
Je voyais biens que papa était contrarié par quelque chose.
«Nous avons besoin de quelqu'un de fort pour aider mon épouse, a-t-il dit à la dame. Mais vois m'emmenez une enfant. Un pauvre petit être maladif qui ne sera d'aucune aide.»
La fille a baissé la tête, tellement qu'on ne voyait plus que le dessus de son chapeau. Elle ne pouvait pa faire autrement que d'entendre ce qu'il disait."

Characters

Main article: List of Orphan at My Door characters

• Victoria Cope

Author

Main article: Jean Little

Editions

• Physical
• eBook

Victoria Cope naplója
Hungarian edition
9789631177787
(April 2003)

Ma soeur orpheline
French edition
9780439958707
(February 2005)

Našlaičiai mano namuose
Lithuanian edition
9789955160052
(2005)

Orphan at My Door
Dear Canada eBook
B078GWZVTL
(September 2011)

Awards

• Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children (2001) - winner
• Canadian Children's Book Centre, Our Choice (2002) - commended
• Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice, Diamond Willow Award (2003) - short-listed
• Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award (2003) - short-listed
• Red Cedar Award, BC Young Readers' Choice (2004) - short-listed

Acknowledgements

"Thanks to Barbara Hehner for her careful checking of the manuscript, and to Dr. Joy Parr, author of Labouring Children, for her historical expertise."

Notes

• The portrait on the cover is a detail from a photograph by William James Topley. The background is photograph depicting the arrival British immigrant children. Both photographs were licensed from the National Archives of Canada.

See also

Dear Canada navigation
← Publication → None A Prairie as Wide as the Sea ← Chronology → Flame and Ashes All Fall Down

External links

• Orphan at My Door at Scholastic Canada
• Orphan at My Door at Scholastic Canada (French)
• Orphan at My Door Discussion Guide at Scholastic Canada
• Orphan at My Door at Teaching Books
• Orphan at My Door on Wikipedia