Books About Orphans (But They’re Not All Sad, We Promise!)
September 14th, 2010 by Kidsmomo
Mystery-solving siblings. A red-headed spitfire. A government secret agent. And a girl with a magical connection to the sea. These are just some of the characters in these books about orphans, who manage to overcome the odds and have amazing stories to show for it. Here are their adventures (in no particular order):
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Karen’s pick)
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (Nancy’s pick)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
- Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine
- Rodzina by Karen Cushman
- The Mysterious Benedict Society books by Trenton Lee Stewart
- Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
- The BFG by Roald Dahl
- The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
- Heidi by Johanna Spyri
- The 39 Clues series by various authors
- The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
- Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
- Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi
- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
- The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo
- The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick
- The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
(And here’s a printable version of our Orphans booklist, for you to take to the library or bookstore.)
If you’ve read any of these, send in your book review. Or send in a review of your favorite book about an orphan.We’ll feature the best kid-submitted reviews in our next podcast!
UPDATE 9/29/10: We revealed the answer to our Orphan Mystery Book Theater in the “Hard-Knock Life” Podcast, so take a listen if you want to know the answer. Or just tune in if you want to hear Karen’s new nickname. That she gave to herself.
2 Responses
This is a good catogory to do. Some of these books are popular, and some of them I’ve never even heard. You picked good books for this theme.
Thanks, Jenna! We hope you’ll submit reviews for your favorites! 🙂