SuitabookRory's promise
Michaela MacColl
- Reading
- Pause after the opening situation to discuss what family can mean beyond household structure. Later, explore the Arizona conflict and the historical note together, asking whose fears, power and assumptions are being shown.
- Themes
- Sibling loyalty and family: Rory hides on a train to remain with Violet after learning that Violet will be sent west for adoption. Rory’s loyalty and persistence are presented sympathetically, while the situation exposes painful limits placed on children’s choices.
- Historical prejudice and adoption: White children from New York’s Foundling Hospital are sent to Arizona Territory to be adopted by Mexican Catholics, provoking hostility from Protestant Anglos. The described injustice and prejudice are treated as problems within the historical situation rather than as values to endorse.
- Courage under threat: Rory stows away, later escapes after being kidnapped, and negotiates safe passage for most of the orphans and nuns. The book presents this favourably.
- Worth knowing
- Some readers may want support around orphanhood, bereavement, separation from a sibling, kidnapping and threatening crowd violence. The treatment of abandoned babies and the distinction between an orphan and a foundling may merit particular care.