Donna Nordmark Aviles

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

When Oliver Nordmark decided to play hooky from school one day in 1905, he never imagined that his mistake would lead to a life-changing event.

After one week in the Guarish Society Detention Center, he is told that his mother has died and his father is nowhere to be found. He and his little brother, Edward, are taken to the New York State Orphanage, and a few months later, both board one of the Orphan Trains heading west to be "resettled" with new families.

Finding himself now in charge of his younger brother, eight-year-old Oliver struggles to keep the two of them together. As the brothers try to make their way against dismal odds, they learn that they must rely on nobody but themselves.

Based on the true story of the author's grandfather and his travels on the Orphan Train in 1906, this story brings to life the grim reality that many children faced at the dawn of today's foster care system.… (mere)

Although it is meant to be the third and final installment in Donna Nordmark Aviles’s “Orphan Train” series, Peanut Butter for Cupcakes stands alone as a fine historical fiction novel depicting the real life experiences of a Pennsylvania family living through the Great Depression. Oliver Nordmark (the author’s real life grandfather) grew up without parents of his own. Orphaned at a young age, he was shipped out west via the “orphan train” movement and given away to a Kansas couple as a cheap farm laborer. As depicted in the first two books of this series, Oliver passes through the hands of several families without ever completely being a part of one.
As Peanut Butter for Cupcakes opens, Oliver is a grown man with a wife and six children living in the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania. When Oliver loses his job and a tragic accident takes the life of his wife, he struggles to support his children and ultimately has to seek help from the same Child Services organization which once sent him out as a farm hand. PB for C focuses mainly on the life of Oliver’s children as they try to stick together through various foster care arrangements, as well as Oliver’s attempts to make a living and take his children back into his own care.
The title refers to the youngest Nordmark’s attempt to trade a peanut butter sandwich (which was his lunch everyday) for a sweet, scrumptious cupcake brought by another student to school. The effort fails, and yet Benny Nordmark doesn’t give up hope that someday he might be able to turn his “peanut butter life” into a “cupcake.” Benny and his brothers are lively and rambunctious. Although readers will find some of their foster parents harsh and unkind, it is also obvious that the Nordmark brood were a handful. Schoolyard pranks, horseplay with rifles, and accidentally setting a field on fire are just some of the hijinks these rascals get up to. Interspersed with the boys’ pranks and the rough life in foster care are heartwarming stories of the Nordmark family during time with their father, such as when Oliver drives the family to visit the World’s Fair, even though they cannot afford to do anything but look.
This book is highly recommended as a study of life in the Great Depression through historical fiction.… (mere)

Oliver Nordmark is only seven when a single day's truancy lands him in a New York City youth detention center in 1905. Shortly thereafter, he is coldly informed that his mother has died and he and his three-year old brother are orphans. Life in the city orphanage is harsh, and when overcrowding causes city officials to ship the orphans out west by trains, it seems an opportunity for a better life. Oliver takes his young brother Edward under his wing, and they hope to be taken in by a loving family. But do the people who meet the train in Kansas want sons - or cheap labor? Fly Little Bird, Fly is a true story of life at the turn of the century, where little boys can't count on love or fairness and two brothers learn " the only one looking out for us -- is us."… (mere)