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Baseball loving Johnny Pickett has spent every one of his "thirteen or fourteen, give-or-take-a-few years" in the Jonathan J.
Quigley Refuge for Orphan Boys. He longs for a father, a mother, a white picket fence, and a dog, but so far he is only batting one for four. Frank Leroy Chance, the only orange-eating canine in the world (or at
least in New York City in 1903), was named for one of a triple threat trio in professional baseball, and he belongs to Johnny. At least half of him does. The other half belongs to Sam, Johnny’s best friend and
lifetime bunk mate--Fifty-fifty. But they both realize in their hearts that nobody can own half a dog unless they live together. If either of them gets adopted, a heart-breaking choice will have to be made.
Neither Johnny nor Sam have ever heard of Oklahoma Territory or Indian Territory when they discover that the next day they are to board a
train which will take them to these faraway places to live. Forever. "They’re not even states in the Union! Not even civilized!" Sam informs the other seventeen boys chosen to ride "The Orphan
Train." Even more humiliating is that strangers will be allowed to pick an orphan from the station platform--"like you pick an apple after studying it to see it doesn’t have any worms."
More than once on his journey to adulthood Johnny is forced to choose between doing what his heart tells him to do and what he knows is
right.
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