Renee Wendinger

Inspired by her mother, one of the children of the orphan trains ( depicted in her book, Last Train Home: An Orphan Train Story), Minnesota author, Renée Wendinger, embraces a wonderful nonfiction documenting an American Experience that speaks to the heart. "The Orphan Trains and Newsboys of New York," reveals the life story of orphaned, half-orphaned and runaway children of immigrant parents in nineteenth century New York. A collection of stories effectively communicates little known details about children who faced nearly insurmountable odds. From agonizing letters written by desperate mothers, to news stories of the latest train, or of newsboys looking out for each other, the humanity of individuals caught up in the sweep of history is unmistakable. The numerous archival photographs, hauntingly good!

Emmy award winner Patricia Birch, director of the Off-Broadway musical production Orphan Train, supports this book for academic and universal readership. This nonfiction is filled with authoritative research and compelling stories from the people who "made history" aboard the orphan trains of New York.

The Orphan Trains and Newsboys of New York

Renee Wendinger, author

Legendary Publication

9780615-297552 $25.00, HC, 180pp, www.amazon.com

Last Train Home: An Orphan Train Story, is a real-life Dickensian story about two children who rode the orphan trains. Would they be adopted by kind and loving families, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude? The story highlights the methods practiced by two of the largest New York agencies sending children West by orphan trains. The Lucy Maud Montgomery(author of Anne of Green Gables)Foundation supports this book.

Last Train Home

Renee Wendinger, author

Legendary Publications

9780991360314, $15.00, HC, 192pp, www.amazon.com

Children's Bookwatch has chosen Renee Wendinger's children's book, "Charlie’s Chalk Stick" to be showcased by the Midwest Book Review meriting the highest recommendation available under the Amazon rating system by editors and specialized book reviewers demonstrating expertise and mastery of their particular fields, responsibilities, and interests.

Deftly written by Renee Wendinger and charmingly illustrated by Sharon Grey, "Charlie's Chalk Stick" is a delightfully engaging children's book based on a historic figure born out of America's Great Depression -- the hobo. "Charlie's Chalk Stick" is the kind of story that will give children the opportunity to visit a particular period in America's past while learning something valuable about the human condition at the same time. While very highly recommended for elementary school and community library children's book collections, it should be noted for parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

Charlie's Chalk Stick

Renee Wendinger, author

Sharon Grey, illustrator

Legendary Publications

9780991360338, $12.00, HC, 38pp, www.amazon.com

Renée is an author and speaker on the subject of the orphan trains and immigration experience offering a historical PowerPoint symposium to educators and schools, community and civic organizations, and libraries and historical centers.

She is hon. president of Orphan Train Riders of New York organization, recipient of the New York Foundling award for history preservation and the Founders Award from the National Orphan Train Complex of Concordia, Kansas. She is a featured orphan train historian in the PBS documentary, "West By Orphan Train." She is an honored essayist supporting historical prose, and her books have been awarded winners of excellence in history gaining passage as a college graduate level study course. Several sociology professors and theater groups have used her work as a doctrine in social reform, and numerous authors have used Renee's knowledge and research about orphan train history into their own manuscripts.