Worth

Title: Worth
Author: A. LaFaye
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publication City: New York, New York
Publication Date: 2004
ISBN: 0-689-85730-6

Summary

Everything in Nathaniel's life was going well, until his leg is smashed in an accident rendering him useless to his parent's farm. Since Nathaniel cannot help with the crops, he is sent to school for the first time where he is immediately put with the younger children. Now Nathaniel not only has to deal with his feelings of worthlessness on the farm, but also feelings of being the school dunce. To make matters worse at home, to help with the farm labor Nathaniel's father brings home a boy from the Orphan Train named John Worth.
Everything in John Worth's world is also crumbling. He is a city boy, and knows nothing about working on a farm. He isn't even allowed to sleep in the house because Nathaniel's mom believes that all orphans are ruffians. He longs to attend school like Nathaniel, but is not allowed because so much work has to be done on the farm.
The two boys end up bonding over a book of Greek tales, and the only way boys can truly be brothers-a fistfight. But they truly become a family when an arguement between ranchers and farmers comes to a head and the boys find themselves in the middle of it.

Review

People have plans for their lives, but life does not always go how it is planned. 11-year-old Nataniel Peale never planned on becoming a cripple. He was going to learn how to work a farm from his Father, and someday take over the farm when he was old enough for a family of his own. 11-year-old John Worth was going to live in the city his whole life and become a banker. But that dream was taken away in one day by a fire that swept through the building he lived in, killing his entire family. Worth and Peale's lives intertwine when Peale's condition lives his father no choice but to "adopt" an orphan to work on the farm in Nathaniel's place.
LaFaye takes on the world of rural Nebraska in the late nineteenth-century and the Orphan Trains that rode the rails transporting children needing homes from the overcrowded cities of the east. The reader can picture the Peale farm from the descriptions of Nathaniel, and the uproar his injury causes his family. The everyday survival of the Peale family is much like that of the typical farm family. Each day is a battle to survive, especially when money is in short supply.
Many of the riders from the Orphan Train ended up in a situation similar to John Worth's. They were used as hired hands on farms, especially the bigger, older boys. When a train made a stop in a town, the bigger, older boys were among the first "adopted" because they could help out on the farm.

Professional Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 3–6—Crippled by a freak farming accident, 11-year-old Nathaniel is bitter, helpless, frustrated, and angry when his father brings John Worth, an Orphan Train boy, into their home to help with the chores Nate can no longer manage in A. LeFaye's novel (S & S, 2004). But the two boys, each wounded in a different yet similar way, discover they have more in common than initially apparent and slowly begin to develop a friendship based on their joint desire to save the family's farm. LaFaye's unsparing look at the grueling hardships of day-to-day farm life during the late 19th-century and the ongoing battle between farmers and ranchers for control of the land is matched by the narrator Tommy Fleming's skill at portraying the starkness of the emotions felt by each of the characters in this short, spare, and beautifully told winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction. Speaking with an authentic Nebraska accent, Fleming captures the poignancy of Nate's battle to overcome his disability, learn to read, and reinvent himself within his unhappy family. A compelling and historically accurate story beautifully rendered.—Cindy Lombardo, Tuscarawas County Public Library, New Philadelphia, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From AudioFile
What is the source of one's worth? In the hardscrabble life of the Nebraska plain, a fluke accident crushes an only son's leg, bringing even more difficult times to the family. Nathaniel's sense of self is also crushed. Through grappling with his feelings toward his father, the orphan boy who comes to help out, the Greek family attending school, and the power struggles between farmers and ranchers, Nathaniel emerges as a whole individual. Tommy Fleming narrates with an edgy voice that helps the listener understand the raw feelings that permeate the story. Heartfelt emotions are evident, and Fleming's youthful voice and slight Midwestern accent add to the story's authenticity. A.R. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Connections

Have students research the statistics of Orphan Train riders and adoptive families. Is the book accurate?

Have student look up what the plain states were like during the late-ninteenth century. What were the conditions like? What was medicine like back then? What were the lending practices like? Did Ranchers and Farmers really fued like they did in Worth?

Put yourself in the shoes of Worth or Nathaniel. Would you react the same way they did? Write an essay about how you would feel and be authentic. For this assignment I would not grade so much on grammar and spelling, but more on how authentic they can write. Too many students get caught up in being "perfect" and either try to hard or don't try at all.