Heartbreakingly Sad (but a great story)

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For anyone who liked Christina Baker Klein's book 'The Orphan Train' or Tatiana de Rosney's book 'Sarah's Key,' then THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN is a must read. Obviously, 1946 post-Nazi era and poverty stricken people who can't afford to feed their children are ingredients for heartbreak. However, author Viola Ardone creates immediate empathy for the eight-year-old urchin- Amerigo Speranza, and readers will find themselves desperate to know what is going to happen. How could his mother say that God sent her this son as punishment, questioning who would want him? Although the sample chapters end with Amerigo arriving in Bologna and having a woman provide him with a pair of shoes, there is a foreshadow of doom; he muses that he arrived barefoot and he will be barefoot again when he gets sent back.