THE ORPHAN BAND OF SPRINGDALE:
A Primary Source Educator’s Guide

Best Users: Book Clubs, School Librarians, Public Librarians,
Classroom Teachers, Home Learning
Best Audience: Grades 04-07

Looking for this book during lockdown? It is available as an Audible audiobook, an e-book, and is shipping from many independents. Out in paperback on 4/11/20!

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EDUCATOR’S GUIDE

Professor and author Anne Nesbet takes readers into the Primary Sources of the 1940’s to explore the role of advertising and the definition of “modern.” She concludes with an exploration of the Smith Act or Alien Registration Act of 1940 which allowed the government to exclude and expel people from the US for “dangerous ideas.” Readers are invited to make connections to the acclaimed novel and current affairs.

DOWNLOAD Orphan Band of Springdale: Educator's Guide (PDF)
 

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Orphan Band of Springdale
By Anne Nesbet
Published by Candlewick Press
ISBN-13: 9780763688042 (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9781536213195 (Paperback, 4/14/20)
Available as an audiobook!
Age Range: 10 – 14 Years

It’s 1941, and tensions are rising in the United States as the Second World War rages in Europe. Eleven-year-old Gusta’s life, like the world around her, is about to change. Her father, a foreign-born labor organizer, has fled the country, and Gusta has been sent to live in an orphanage run by her grandmother. Nearsighted, snaggletoothed Gusta arrives in Springdale, Maine, lugging her one precious possession: a beloved old French horn, her sole memento of her father. But in a family that’s long on troubles and short on money, how can a girl hang on to something so valuable and yet so useless when Gusta’s mill-worker uncle needs surgery to fix his mangled hand? Inspired by her mother’s fanciful stories, Gusta secretly hopes to find the coin-like “Wish” that her sea-captain grandfather supposedly left hidden. Meanwhile, even as Gusta gets to know the rambunctious orphans at the home, she feels like an outsider — and finds herself facing patriotism turned to prejudice, alien registration drives, and a family secret likely to turn the small town upside down.

In this uplifting, multifaceted historical novel set in 1941, Nesbet (Cloud and Wallfish) creates an arrestingly strong and sympathetic character in nearsighted 11-year-old Augusta “Gusta” Hoopes Neubronner…Nesbet deftly weaves disparate elements—music, orphans, labor unions, carrier pigeons, and a magic wish—into a richly developed story set during a pivotal era in American history.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
.
The narrative style is deeply satisfying: unexpected flourishes of drollery grace the text; the theme of Gusta’s new spectacles-enhanced vision gracefully serves as plot point and metaphor; and an ex- amination of folkloric Wishes respects both believers and doubters. Sometimes kids just need a book to cozy up with in an overstuffed chair, a secluded treehouse, or a nest of pillows. This is exactly that book.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
.
The dialogue is catchy, and Gusta’s internal monologues share her tremendous curiosity and friendliness with readers. This is a good pairing for Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War that Saved My Life, both for the time period and its sense of pathos…Solid historical fiction with a memorable heroine
—School Library Journal
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She’s believably caught between her desire to do what’s right, fighting back against growing prejudice against foreigners and unfair treatment of workers, and her need for comfort and security in an alien, sometimes-threatening new environment…this effort nicely captures the myriad faces of prejudice. Sometimes suspenseful and always engaging, this snapshot of determined Gusta and life before the war is sure to captivate readers.
—Kirkus Reviews
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Intelligent, empathetic, and brave up to a point, Gusta is the most complex of the many well-drawn characters whose stories intersect, sometimes in surprising ways. A rewarding historical novel.
—Booklist